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JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 



John Watts de Peyster 



BY 

FRANK ALLABEN 



AUTHOR OF "THE ANCESTRY OF LEANDER HOWARD 
CRALL," "CONCERNING GENEALOGIES," "THE ARMS 
AND PEDIGREE OF KINGDON-GOULD." "THE ARMS AND 
PEDIGREE OF SEYMOUR;" EDITOR OF "AMERICAN 
GENTRY." 



VOLUME I 




FRANK ALLABEN GENEALOGICAL COMPANY 
Number Three West Forty-Second Street . . . New York 



UBKARY of C0NGR1^3 
Iwo Copies KeculviM* 

JUL 22 1908 

JOl-'Y 6. 



•K4-2 



Copyright, 1908, by 
FRANK ALLABEN GENEALOGICAL COMPANY 



PEEFACE 

General John AVatts de Peyster was one of the unique 
characters of his generation. He will be known to 
posterity as the first notable military critic produced by 
America — the first to treat the battles and campaigns of 
our great conflicts in the spirit of a true philosophy of 
the art of war. 

He sprang from an old family, of Flemish origin, 
whose history has recently been traced back for seven 
hundred years. For centuries it was prominent in the 
public affairs of mediaeval Ghent. Transplanted to 
Holland, on account of religious persecution, it thrived 
in Middlebourg, Haarlem, and Amsterdam, during the 
brilliant period of Dutch supremacy, and then crossed 
to the New World. Here it had maintained a conspic- 
Tious eminence for seven generations when General de 
Peyster was born. 

He became its most distinguished representative. 
Effecting widespread reforms in the Militia and in the 
Fire Departments of the State of New York, he rose to 
the rank of Brigadier-General, visited Europe as Military 
Agent of his State, became Adjutant-General, and, by a 
special act of th ■ Legislature, was created Brevet Major- 
General for i.xui.torious services before and during the 
Civil War. 

He was a voluminous author. His works include 
poetry, drama, and innumerable monographs covering an 
almost incredible range of subjects. The most valuable, 
of a military or historical character, are notable for 
their erudition. General de Peyster's peculiar genius 
found complete expression in military criticism, military 
history, and military biography. A student of the Thirty 
Years' War, the wars of Frederick the Great, the cam- 
paigns of Napoleon, and those of the great captains of 



ancient times, the results of his researches on these 
subjects were published in hundreds of articles and 
monographs. 

To Americans, however, his important contributions to 
the literature of our Eevolutionary and Civil Wars are of 
paramount interest. We can scarcely find, outside of 
his writings, any treatment of our battles in the light 
of scientific military criticism. He was indefatigable in 
sifting the testimony of authorities, and in collecting and 
citing historical parallels his industry knew no bounds. 
Few in Europe, and none in America, have equaled him 
in the sagacious application of the lessons of the world's 
military history to elucidate the principles of practical 
strategy. 

General de Peyster left in manuscript an account of 
his earlier years, and of several episodes of his later life. 
This autobiographical material has been incorporated in 
the present volumes. The reader will find in it a vivid 
and most interesting picture of New York at the begin- 
ning of the last century, from the standpoint of a wealthy 
young aristocrat. 

The ideal biography will furnish a complete summary 
of genealogical antecedents — the many streams of ances- 
tral inheritance, racial traits, tendencies, modes of 
thought, which, flowing down through multitudinous 
channels, gradually have converged and, at length, 
combined and blended their currents in one life history. 
Yet most "Lives" are unsatisfactory in this respect. A 
failure to appreciate the importance of ancestry, or the 
formidable nature of the task of collecting authentic data 
for the many paternal and maternal lines, induces most 
biographers to shirk this duty. The genealogical studies 
of the writer, however, coming to his aid, have enabled 
him to present a comprehensive outline of the ancestry 
of General de Peyster. 

New York, 29 June, 1908. FRANK ALLABEN. 



CONTENTS 
VOLUME I 

BOOK I 

ANCESTRY 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I De Peyster 13 

II Watts 29 

III De Lancey and Golden .... 35 

IV Van Cortlandt and Looekermans . . 43 
V Livingston and Mac Pheadris . . 50 

VI French and Philipse .... 60 

VII Beekman 65 

VIII Nicoll 70 

XI Van Eensselaer 76 

X Schuyler and Van Slichtenhorst . . 83 

BOOK II 
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS 

XI Number Three, Broadway ... 91 

XII A New York Boarding-School . . 105 

XIII At the Watts Estate . . . .111 

XIV More School Days 133 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 




PAGE 


XV 


A Trip to Europe in 1834 


. 144 


XVI 


From Thirteen to Fifteen 


. 153 


XVII 


The Passing of Jolm Watts . 


. 165 


XVIII 


Collegian and Volunteer Fireman 


. 178 


XIX 


Europe Again 

BOOK III 
MILITARY CAREER 


. 184 


XX 


Judge-Advocate and Colonel 


. 205 


XXI 


Brigadier-General .... 


. 323 


XXII 


Assigned to Visit Europe 


. 231 


XXIII 


The Militia of Europe in 1851 


. 237 


XXIV 


Proposed Eeform of the New Yc 


)rk 




Militia 


. 249 


XXV 


On Fire Departments . 


. 260 


XXVI 


Military Agent of the State of N 


ew 




York 


. 267 


XXVII 


Third Military Ecport . 


. 272 


XXVIII 


Adjutant-General .... 


. 292 


XXIX 


Brevet Major-General . 


. 310 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING 
PAGE 

Jolin Watts de Peyster, 1896 . . . Frontispiece 
Seal of Jan de Peyster, Ghent, 1517 . . . 14 
De Heer Abraham de Peyster, 1680 ... 18 
Residence of De Heer Abraham de Peyster . . 20 
Bellomont Reviewing the New York City Troops . 23 

John Watts, Senior 32 

Mrs. Frederic de Peyster, nee Mary Justina Watts 34 
The Countess of Cassilis, nee Ann Watts . . 96 
Frederic de Peyster, Father of General de Peyster 112 

John Watts de Peyster, 1834 148 

Jolm Watts, Junior 168 

"Rose Hill,'' Tivoli, New York . . . .208 

John Watts de Peyster, 1849 218 

John Watts de Peyster, 1852 234 

John Watts de Peyster, 1853 272 

Book Plate of John Watts de Peyster . . .286 
John Watts de Peyster, about 1860 . ■ . .310 
John Watts de Peyster, 1863 318 



BOOK I 
ANCESTRY 



CHAPTER I 

DE PEYSTER 

De Peysters figure notably in the history of mediaeval 
Ghent. Belonging to one of the old aristocratic families, 
they were leaders in civic and military affairs, as well 
as in the industrial activities which raised Ghent to 
wealth and fame. 

In 1322 Heinric de Peyster was a burgher of Ghent; 
in 1325 was Captain, guarding one of the city gates; 
and in 1349, 1352 and 1356 was Schepen of the 
Parchons, a district of the city. Jan de Peyster, son of 
Captain Heinric, in 1349 was sent by the municipality 
of Ghent on an important mission to Brabant. The 
turbulent character of the times in which he lived is 
reflected in three incidents disclosed by the archives of 
the city. He fought a duel with Simon de Scoenkere, 
receiving wounds, and his opponent was compelled by 
the schepens to defray the cost of medical attendance. 
His daughter, Anne, was abducted by one Ricquaers, 
and the offence compounded in 1361, by a payment of 
five hundred livres. His son, Jan, was assassinated by 
three men. In 1365 the slayers were condemned to go 
on a pilgrimage in expiation of their crime. 

In 1345 Pierre de Peyster was commissioned Captain 
of Archers. In 1382 Jan de Peyster was one. of five 
envoys sent to Charles VI of France by the burghers 
of Ghent after the battle of Eoosebeke. 

Baudouin de Peyster, son of Jean, grandson of 
Willem, great-grandson of Jean, great-great-grandson 
of Baudouin, and great-great-great-grandson of Willem 
de Peyster, all gentlemen of Glient, was Schepen of the 
Parchons in 1476, and in 1477 and 1478 Provost or 
Dean of the Goldsmith-s' Guild. His son, Jean de 
Peyster was Schepen in 1481, 1489, 1495, 1497, 1500, and 

13 



14 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

1525, and Provost of the Guild of the Carpenters in 
1488-1491, 1494, 1496, 1499, 1504, 1517, and 1521. 
In 1498 he was Elector of the Prince, the highest oflfice 
in the city. The granddaughters of Baudouin, Baudo- 
uine and Marguerite, were nuns, the former becoming 
Superior of the Convent of St. Elizabeth at Ghent. 

Othon or Oste de Peyster in 1489 was Provost of 
the Guild of the Carpenters, and in 1546 was Procurator 
or Solicitor at the Court of Flanders. Maitre Martin 
de Peyster, son of Maitre Martin de Peyster, grandson 
of Jean, and great-grandson of Lievin, in 1581 was 
Professor and Rector Magnificus at the Reformed Uni- 
versity of Ghent. His brother, Reynier de Peyster, 
suffered the confiscation of his property in 1567 for 
having embraced the "new religion," was imprisoned in 
1586, upon the capture of Ghent by the Duke of Parma, 
escaped and iled to Amsterdam in Holland. 

Martin and Gilles de Peyster were engaged in mari- 
time trade. The latter sold a vessel to one Tobast in 
1565, and in 1567 obtained a merchant vessel from his 
brother. 

The above are examples of the references to members 
of this large and flourishing family which abound in 
the archives of Ghent from 1148 to the Seventeenth 
Century. In the latter part of this period many of the 
de Peysters, becoming Protestants, found it expedient 
to emigrate. 

In the Eighteenth Century we find de Peysters in 
Grammont and Oudenarde, East Flanders, including 
Sir Henri de Peyster and "Le Seigneur Pierre Franceois 
de Pester, son of Seigneur Louis, treasurer of the town 
of Oudenarde," in 1741. We also find de Peysters in 
Hainault. To this branch of the family belong Jean 
Baptiste de Pester, Lord of Locquerie, Warin, Maruais, 
and Ramiquies; Julien Ghislain de Pester, Count of 
Seneffe and Tournout, Baron de la Fevt6 de Pestre-en- 
Sologne, Councillor to the King of France, and 
Hyacinthe Julien Joseph, Count de Pestre de Bertin- 
champs. 




SEAL OF JAN DE PEYSTER, GHENT, 1517 
Drawn by George B. Bissell 



DE PEYSTER 15 

Protestant branches of the family became established 
in Holland, in the cities of Amsterdam, Haarlem, 
Rotterdam, and Middlebourg, and in England. General 
de Peyster descended through one of these. 

I Hugues de Peyster lived in Ghent in the early part 
of the Sixteenth Century. His second wife, Antoinette 
Poelvaech, died 21 March, 1535. From them an 
unbroken line, down to the de Peysters of New York, 
has been established by means of documents obtained 
from Ghent and Holland. 

II Josse de Peyster, son of Hugues and Antoinette 
Poelvaech, appears in the Ghent records as heir to one- 
third of his mother's estates, 19 December, 1526. He 
deeded his share to his father, 10 November, 1529. He 
had issue: (1) Josse; (2) Jacques, mentioned in 1561 
and 1563, who married Jeanne Amys; and (3) Jean, 
who married Jossine van Hecke, and died prior to 23 
December, 1578, as we learn from a transaction between 
two of his sons. 

III Josse de Peyster, eldest son of Josse de Peyster, 
appears in the Ghent records from 1552 to 1585. At 
one time he was guardian of the children of Othon de 
Peyster. In the year 1552, with his wife, Elizabeth 
Danckaert, he was asked to pardon Christian van Hauve, 
and the latter's wife, for an attempt to steal one of his 
children. He was married twice. By his first wife, 
Elizabeth Danckaert, daughter of Thierry Danckaert 
and Elizabeth van Hiesche, he had issue: (1) Josse; 
(2) Elizabeth; and (3) Jossine. By his second wife, he 
had a son, (4) Jacques. 

IV Josse de Peyster, eldest son of Josse de Peyster 
and Elizabeth Danckaerts, on 7 September, 1587, appears 
in a transaction connected with the estate of his deceased 
father. On 21 August, 1596, as heir of his mother, he 
ceded an income to Ferdinand de Salines. The records 
of Ghent reveal his activity in various other directions. 
He married Joanne van de Voorde, the daughter of 
Pierre van de Voorde and Joosyne de Caluwe, and had 
issue: (1) Josse, of Ghent, Amsterdam, and Middle- 



16 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

bourg; (2) Johannes; (3) Jacques; (4) Lievin, of 
Ghent, Haarlem, and Amsterdam; (5) Jonas, of Ghent 
and London; and (6) Marie, who married Jacques de 
Key of Haarlem. 

Of these children, both Johannes and Jacques were 
ancestors of General de Peyster, Johannes forming a link 
in the direct paternal line, while Jacques was the grand- 
father of Catharina de Peyster, who married De Heer 
Abraham de Peyster, of the second generation in America. 

This Jacques de Peyster, son of Josse de Peyster and 
Joanne van de Voorde, was living at Eouen, France, 
in 1639, and died there in 1676. He married Catharine 
de Lavoye. They had issue: (1) Sarah, who was born 
in 1629 and died in 1646 ; (2) Jacques, born in 1630, 
who married his cousin, Elizabeth Lequesne, and had a 
son, Jacques de Peyster, who, in turn, married his 
cousin, Adrienne Jacqueline, daughter of Pierre de 
Peyster; (3) Adrien, born in 1631, who was living in 
1672, when he was mentioned in letters of his cousin, 
Isaac, to the latter's brother, Johannes de Peyster, of 
New York; (4) Samuel, of Eouen, France, born in 
1634, died in 1703, who married, first Ms cousin, Cath- 
arine Lequesne, and second, Catharine de Bils, and by 
the latter marriage had children, Samuel and Catharine, 
born in Eotterdam; (5) Pierre; (6) William, born in 
1638, and living in 1659, when he was mentioned in a 
letter of his cousin, Isaac de Peyster, to the latter's 
brother, Johannes de Peyster, of New York; (7) Jan, 
who was born in 1641; and (8) Catharine, who was 
born in 1645. 

Pierre de Peyster, tlie son of Jacques de Peyster and 
Catharine de Lavoye, was born probably about 1636, 
and in 1660 was a law student at Harderwyk, Holland. 
He was for a time of Eouen, France, where some of 
his children were born, Init about 1682 he settled at 
Amsterdam. He married Pietronella Van Kesteren. 
They had issue: (1) Adrienne Jacqueline, born about 
1G74, who married, first, her cousin, Jacques de Peyster, 
of Eouen, and, second, Abraham Van der Hulst, and 



DE PEYSTEE 17 

died at Eouen in 1762, aged eighty-eight, her sole heir 
being Frederic de Peyster, of New York, grandson of 
her sister, Catharine, and De Heer Abraham de Peyster, 
the illustrious New York patriot; (3) Catharina, or 
Margareta Katrijn; (3) Johannes, who was born in 
Amsterdam, 30 November, 1685. 

Margareta Katrijn de Peyster, as her name appears 
in her baptismal record, or Catharine, as it was generally 
written in New York, the second child of Pierre de 
Peyster and Pietronella Van Kesteren, was born in 
Amsterdam, Holland, 20 June, 1682. She became the 
wife of her second cousin, De Heer Abraham de Peyster, 
of New York. 

V Johannes de Peyster, son of Josse de Peyster and 
Joanne van de Voorde, like his brothers and sister, 
removed from Ghent, probably on account of his 
Protestant views. He lived for some time in Amster- 
dam, where his son, Isaac, was born, and subsequently 
settled in Haarlem. He was a burgher of the latter 
city in 1621, and died there in 1648. By his wife, 
Jossine Martens, he had issue: (1) Johannes; (2) 
Abraham, who died in England, near London, in 1659 ; 
(3) Joanna, who married Bruynsteen; and (4) Isaac, 
of Amsterdam and Haarlem, whose son, Johan, was a 
student at Leyden University, and became a Counsellor- 
at-Law at Eotterdam, of which city he was Schepen 
in 1705 and 1706. A number of letters from this 
Johan to his cousins in New Netherland, with two from 
his father, Isaac, to the latter's brother, Johannes, of 
New Amsterdam, were long preserved among the de 
Peyster family papers in America, and certified transla- 
tions still exist. 

VI Johannes de Peyster, son of Johannes de Peyster 
and Jossine Martens, was born in Haarlem, Holland. 
He emigrated to New Amsterdam at least as early as 
1647, and there married, 17 December, 1651, Cornelia 
Lubberts, also a native of Haarlem. Johannes de 
Peyster was a wealthy importing merchant, one of the 
eminent men of New Netherland. He was Schepen of 



18 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

New Amsterdam under Governor Petrus Stuyvesant; 
was Alderman of New York during the first English 
administration, under Nicholls; was Burgomaster of 
New Orange in 1673, when for a short time the city was 
again under Holland; was subsequently Alderman and 
Deputy Mayor under the English, and declined to accept 
his appointment as Mayor, 15 October, 1677, because of 
his imperfect mastery of the English tongue. 

He had issue: (1) Abraham; (3) Johannes, baptized 
3 August, 1653, who died in infancy; (3) Johannes, 
baptized 7 September, 1654, who died young; (4) Maria, 
baptized 7 September, 1660, who married, first, Paulus 
Schrick, second, John Sprat, and third, David Provoost, 
and one of whose daughters became the wife of James 
Alexander, and the mother of William Alexander, titular 
Earl of Stirling and Major-General in the patriot army 
during the Revolutionary War; (5) Isaac, born and 
baptized 16 April, 1662, who was Assistant Alderman 
of the city of New York, served a number of years as a 
member of tlie Provincial Legislature, and left a numer- 
ous progeny; (6) Jacob, baptized 33 December, 1663, 
who died without issue; (7) Johannes, born 31 
December, 1666, who was Captain in the Militia, Assist- 
ant Alderman, Mayor of the city of New York, and a 
prominent member of the Provincial Legislature, some 
of whose descendants were officers in the Continental 
Army during the Revolution; (8) Cornelius, a Captain 
in the Militia, Assistant Alderman of New York, and the 
first Chamberlain of that city; and (9) Cornelia, bap- 
tized 4 December, 1678, who died without issue. 

VII De Heer Abraham de Peyster, eldest son of 
Johannes de Peyster and Cornelia Lubberts, was born 
in New Amsterdam 8 July, 1657, and died in the same 
city, then New York, 2 August, 1738. He was the most 
illustrious of his race during the colonial period. An 
opulent merchant, a civic magnate, and a social grandee, 
he became an influential supporter of Leisler and the 
intimate and trusted friend of the royal Governor, 
Richard, Earl of Bellomont. 



^^M ^^^^^^^^1 

■^^B 

^■^^1 






4 


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^m 





DE HEER ABRAHAM DE PEYSTER 
Prom the Original Portrait, 1680 



DE PEYSTEK 19 

He was Alderman, Mayor, and Colonel in command 
of the New York County troops. A member of the 
King's Council, he subsequently became its President. 
He was Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and 
eventually its Supreme Justice. After the death of the 
Earl of Bellomont, he was for a time Acting Governor of 
New York, in 1708 became Eeceiver-General of the 
Port, and from 1706 to 1721 was Treasurer of the 
Provinces of New York and New Jersey. An aristocrat 
of aristocrats, he nevertheless boldly stood for represen- 
tative government in the Colony, in the days of Leisler. 
Against William Smith, Peter Schuyler, and Robert 
Livingston, he maintained that, in the absence of Lieu- 
tenant-Governor Nanfan, the members of the Council 
were equals, and that the Presiding Officer and Acting 
Governor should be elected by his colleagues of the 
Council. 

He married, during a visit at Amsterdam, Holland, 
5 April, 1684, his second cousin, Catharina de Peyster, 
whose descent has been shown. They had issue: (1) 
Johannes, who was born 12 July, 1685, and died in 
infancy; (2) Johannes, born 30 October, 1686, who died 
young; (3) Catharine, born 7 September, 1688, ,who 
married Philip Van Cortlandt, and became the mother 
of Pierre Van Cortlandt of Croton, Lieutenant-Governor 
of New York; (4) Abraham, who was born 7 November, 
1690, and died young; (5) Johannes, born 3 April, 
1693, and died young; (6) Abraham; (7) Elizabeth, 
twin of Abraham, born 28 August, 1696, who became the 
wife of "the Honorable John Hamilton, Governor of the 
Province of New Jersey; (8) Mary, born 17 October, 
1698, and died without issue; (9) Joanna, who was 
born 13 July, 1701, and who married her kinsman, 
Isaac de Peyster, but left no issue; (10) Maria, born 
25 August, 1703, who died without issue; (11) 
Johannes, born 28 February, 1706, and died in infancy; 
(12) Pierre Guillaume, born 15 January, 1707, who 
married Catharine Schuyler; and (13) John, born 6 
May, 1709, who left no issue. 



20 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

Pierre Guillaume was the father of Colonel Arent 
Schuyler de Peyster, Commander of the region from the 
head of Lake Superior eastward to Lake Ontario, where 
he exercised over the northwestern Indians an influence 
only equalled by that of Sir William Jolmson over the 
Six Nations. A grandson of Pierre Guillaume, Captain 
Arent de Peyster, visited unexplored parts of the Pacific, 
and was the discoverer of the de Peyster, Ellice, and 
other islands. 

VIII Abraham de Peyster, eldest surviving son of 
De Heer Abraham de Peyster and Catharina de Peyster, 
was born in New York, 28 August, 1696. He was a 
great merchant, like his father, whom he succeeded in 
the office of Treasurer of the Province, 2 June, 1721, 
holding it until his death, 17 September, 1767. He 
married, 1 July, 1722, Margaret, the eldest daughter 
of Jacobus Van Cortlandt. 

There is extant an old document, containing a "List 
of Persons invited to, and present at, the Funeral of 
Abraham de Peyster, Treasurer of the Province of New 
York, 19th September, 1767," which is practically a 
register of the great names of the social and official 
New York of that day. The clergymen in attendance 
were the Eeverend Messrs. Oglevie, Auchmuty, Ingliss, 
Provoost, Cooper, Eitsmoy, De Eunda, and Ladley, 
while the pall-bearers were Judge Horsmanden, Judge 
William Smith, Colonel Stuyvesant, John Watts, Philip 
Livingston, Leonard Lispenard, and William Bayard. 

Abraham de Peyster had issue: (1) James; (2) 
Abraham, born 5 October, 1723, who died young; (3) 
Catharine, born 3 December, 1724, who became the 
wife of John Livingston; (4) Eve, twin of Catharine, 
who died young; (5) Pierre, who was born 19 October, 
1727, and who died in infancy; (6) Margaret, born 
14 November, 1728, who married the Honorable William 
Axtell, member of the King's Council; (7) Pierre, born 
27 March, 1730, who died in infancy; (8) Frederic, 
born 8 April, 1731, known as "The Marquis," because of 
his elegant presence and courtly manners, appointed 




RESIDENCE OF DE HEER ABRAHAM DE PEYSTER 
Pearl Street, New York 



DE PEYSTER 21 

Treasurer of the Province of New York, 18 September, 
1767, went to Ronen, France, to inherit an estate 
bequeathed to him by a kinswoman, and died unmarried 
in New York, in 1773; (9) Eve, born 2 January, 1733, 
who died unmarried at an advanced age; (10) Mary, 
born 26 August, 1735, who was the wife of Doctor John 
Charlton, an eminent physician; and (11) Elizabeth, 
born 11 September, 1737, who married Matthew Clark- 
son, Esquire. 

IX James de Peyster, the eldest son of Abraham de 
Peyster and Margaret Van Cortlandt, was born in New 
York City, 6 February, 1736, and died at one of his 
country estates, in Jamaica, Long Island, 27 July, 
1799. He was one of the most notable New York 
merchants of his day, the proprietor of an extensive 
maritime fleet, which brought rich cargoes into New 
York from the ports of all the world. A Loyalist during 
the Revolution, his ships were swept from the seas by 
American and French privateers, but, in spite of these 
disastrous inroads upon it, he died in possession of a 
fortune large for his day. 

He married Sarah, the daughter of the Honorable 
Joseph Reade, a member of the King's Council, and had 
issue: (1) Margaret, born 18 January, 1749, who 
married Colonel Thomas James, at one time Command- 
er-in-Chief of the Royal Artillery in North America, 
and afterwards in command at Gibraltar; (2) Ann 
Adriana, born 30 April, 1751, who died young; (3) 
Abraham, born IS February, 1753, who was a Captain 
in the British Army during the Revolution, and later 
became Treasurer of New Brunswick, where he died, 
leaving descendants, whose male line has become extinct ; 
(4) Joseph Reade, born 8 April, 1754, who left no male 
descendants; (5) James, born 16 May, 1755, who died 
5 June of the same year; (6) Ann, born 24 August, 

1756, who died unmarried; (7) James, born 3 Ljcember, 

1757, who, at the age of twenty, was commissioned Cap- 
tain-Lieutenant, served under the King during the 
Revolution, and died unmarried at Lincelles, Flanders, 



22 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

19 August, 1793, being then First Lieutenant of Artil- 
lery; (8) Frederic; (9) Lawrence Reade, born 21 
February, 1760, who died 24 June, 1761; (10) Sarah, 
born 20 September, 1761; (11) Lawrence Reade, born 
9 March, 1763, who died 20 January, 1771; (13) Mary 
Reade, born 18 September, 1765, who married and left 
issue; and (14) Elizabeth, born 17 January, 1768, who 
married Doctor William Hamersley, and left issue. 

X Captain Frederic de Peyster, son of James de 
Peyster and Sarah Reade, and the eldest whose male 
descendants are living, was born in New York City, 10 
December, 1758. Like his brothers. Captain Abraham 
and Captain James de Peyster, he fought under King 
George during the Revolution. At the age of eighteen 
he was commissioned Captain of the Axtell Guards or 
Nassau Blues, an independent company of Long Island. 
Later on he became a Captain of the Royal New York 
Volunteers, and distinguished himself in the Highlands 
and at Eutaw Springs. After the Revolution he resided 
for a time in St. John, New Brunswick, subsequently 
returning to New York. He died in 1834. He became 
the head of the family by reason of the deaths of his 
elder brothers without surviving male issue. 

His first wife, who died 1 April, 1801, at the age of 
twenty-eight, was Helen, only daughter of General 
Samuel Hake, claimant of the title of Lord Hake, and at 
one time Commissary-General of the British forces in 
North America. Captain de Peyster's second wife, who 
died in 1857, was Ann, only daughter of Gerard G. 
Beekman, Esq., and granddaughter of Lieutenant- 
Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt. 

Captain Frederic de Peyster had issue, six sons by his 
first marriage, and seven daughters and one son by his 
second marriage, as follows: (1) Captain James Fergu- 
son, of whom a brief account is given below; (2) Robert 
Gilbert Livingston, born 27 June, 1795; (3) Frederic; 
(4) Abraham, born 18 June, 1798, who died unmarried 
in 1836; (5) Samuel Hake, born about 1800, who died 
in linfancy; (6) Captain Frederic Augustus, who was 



DE PEYSTER 23 

Commander of a packet line from New York to Liver- 
pool, was Governor of Sailors' Snug Harbor, Staten 
Island, and had children, Maria Roosevelt, Richard 
Varick de Peyster, who was a Union soldier in the Civil 
War, Justine Watts, wife of Charles Pox Hovey, of 
Boston, Augustus de Peyster, of Indianapolis, and Robert 
Gilbert Livingston de Peyster, of Indianapolis; (7) 
Joanna Cornelia, who was born 7 March, 1804, and who 
married Robert Whitmarsh; (8) Ann Frederica, who was 
born 7 June, 1805, and died unmarried; (9) Margaret 
James, born 9 June, 1806, who died unmarried in 1867 ; 
(10) Mary Elizabeth, born 14 April, 1809, who died 
unmarried in 1892; (11) Pierre Van Cortlandt, born 11 
July, 1814, who died unmarried 1 April, 1854; (12) 
Catharine M. Van Cortlandt, who was born 2 October, 
1818, married Benjamin Hazard Field and was the 
mother of Cortlandt de Peyster Field and Florence Van 
Cortlandt Field, the latter the wife of David Wolfe 
Bishop, of New York; (13) a daughter, who died in 
infancy; and (14) a daughter, who died in infancy. 

Captain James Ferguson de Peyster, eldest son of 
Captain Frederic de Peyster and Helen Hake, was born 
2 Februar}', 1794. Entering the United States Army 
at the age of nineteen, during the War of 1812, he was 
made First Lieutenant, 30 March, 1814, and Captain, 
14 April of the same year. He was a leader in the 
social life and public affairs of New York, was a Gov- 
ernor of the New York Hospital, President of the New 
York Dispensary, for nearly forty years Trustee of the 
Bank for Savings, Treasurer for nearly sixty years of 
St. Michael's Church, and Treasurer for fifty years of 
the Society for Religion and Learning, having succeeded 
his father in this office. He died in New York, 13 
June, 1874. By his first wife, Susan Maria, the daugh- 
ter of Matthew Clarkson of New York, he had a daughter, 
Susan Maria Clarkson de Peyster, who married Robert 
Edward Livingston of Clermont, New York; and by 
his second marriage, with Frances Goodhue Ashton, he 
had issue: (1) Frederic James; (2) Jacob Ashton; 



34 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

(3) Frances Goodhue; (4) Walter, and (5) Helen 
Livingston Hake. 

XI Frederic de Peyster, son of Captain Frederic de 
Peyster and Helen Hake, was born in New York, 11 
November, 1796. While a student at Columbia College, 
during the War of 1813, he organized and became the 
Captain of a company called the "College Greens." 
He graduated from Columbia College with the degree 
of Bachelor of Arts, and from the Law School with that 
of Doctor of Laws. In 1819 he was admitted to the 
Bar. He was Master of Chancery in New York City 
from 1830 to 1837. He was successively Ensign, Lieu- 
tenant, Captain, and Brigade Major of the Tenth 
Brigade, New York Militia, was Aide-de-Camp to Major- 
General Fleming, and was Volunteer Aide, with the 
rank of Colonel, to Governor De Witt Clinton. He was 
also Governor Clinton's Military Secretary for the 
Southern District of New York, 

At the time of his death, 17 August, 1883, it is stated 
that he had been connected officially with more clubs and 
societies than any other person in New York. He was 
Trustee of the Leake and Watts Orphan House, Man- 
ager of the New York Bible Society, Director of the 
New York Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf 
and Dumb, Manager of the Home for Incurables, and 
Chairman of its Finance and Building Committee, Vice- 
President of the Association of the Alumni of Columbia, 
and Chairman of its Standing Committee; was an 
original incorporator, a Director, and Vice-President of 
the New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to 
Children ; was a founder, Manager, Treasurer, and Pres- 
ident of the St. Nicholas Society ; was a founder. Trustee, 
and President of the St. Nicholas Club; was Corre- 
sponding Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Second Vice- 
President, and President of the New York Historical 
Society ; was Chairman of the Board of Trustees and 
President of the New York Society Library; was a 
Trustee of the Free School Society, an honorary member 
of the Mercantile Association of New York, an honorary 



DE PEYSTER 25 

Fellow of the Eoyal Historical Society of Great Britain, 
a Corresponding Member of the New England Historic 
Genealogical Society, and an honorary member of the 
Historical Societies of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, AVisconsin, Florida, Chicago, and Buffalo. 
He was Senior Officer of the| Vestry of the Church of the 
Ascension, New York. 

His published works include Early Political History 
of New York, 1865; The Moral and Intellectual Influ- 
ence of Libraries, 1866 ; The Culture Demanded by the 
Age, 1869; William the Third as a Reformer, 1874; 
The Representative Men of the English Revolution, 
1876; The Life and Administration of the Earl of 
Bellomont, 1879 ; and A Review of the Administration 
of Governor Colonel Benjamin Fletcher, published 
posthumously. 

He married, 15 May, 1830, in the front parlor of 
Number Three, Broadway, New York, Mary Justina, 
the youngest daughter of the Honorable elohn Watts, by 
whom he had an only child. General John Watts de 
Peyster. Mrs. de Peyster died soon after the birth of 
the latter, and Frederic de Peyster married, second, 
Mrs. Hone, nee Maria Antoinette Kane. 

XII John Watts de Peyster, only child of Frederic 
de Peyster and Mary Justina Watts, was born 9 March, 
1821, in the front room on the second story of the house 
of his maternal grandfather, Number Three, Broadway, 
New York City — to quote General de Peyster's own 
words, in the record in one of his Bibles, "on Thursday, 
at noon, the day being one of the finest it is possible to 
conceive." 

His mother having died, 28 July, 1821, a few months 
after his birth, he was brought up in the home of his 
grandfather, John Watts, where his father also resided. 
During the General's childhood he was in the care of a 
nurse, Mrs. Frances Trainque. 

He was married in New York City, at eleven A. M., 
2 March, 1841, by the Rev. Henry Anthon, D. D., to 
Estelle Livingston, the daughter of John Swift Livings- 



26 JOHN" WATTS DE PEYSTER 

ton and Anna Maria Martina Thompson. Mrs. de 
Peyster's mother was a native of Savannah, Georgia^ the 
daughter of Captain William Thompson of the Contin- 
ental Army. John Swift Livingston was a descendant 
of the first Lord of Livingston Manor. 

The General and Mrs. de Peyster had the following 
children: (1) Jolm Watts; (3) Frederic; (3) Estelle; 
(4) Johnston Livingston; and (5) Maria Livingston. 

John Watts de Peyster, Junior, the eldest child, was 
born at One Hundred and Six, Leonard Street, New 
York, 2 December, 1841. He was a Union soldier, 
serving as First Volunteer Aide-de-Camp to his cousin, 
Major-General Philip Kearney, in the spring campaign 
of 1862, afterwards as Second Lieutenant of the Fourth 
Eegiment of New York Cavalry, and later as Major of 
the First Eegiment of New York Volunteer Artillery. He 
was made Brevet Colonel of the United States Volunteers 
for distinguished services at Chancellorsville, and Brevet 
Colonel of the New York Volunteers. His father 
recorded the following death-notice in one of his Bibles: 

"My glorious soldier-son. Major and Brevet Colonel, 
John Watts de Peyster, Jr., in my house, 59 East 21st 
Street, New York, on the night of the llth-12th April, 
1873, Saturday, April 12th, 4^ A. M., of atrophy or 
consumption, attributable to his services in the field, but 
more especially in command of the Artillery of the 
Second Division, of the Sixth Corps, Army of the 
Potomac, at Fredericksburg, in the campaign of Chancel- 
lorsville. He was the first to lie in my new vault in the 
rear of St. Paul's Church, Tivoli. Peace to his ashes! 
To whomsoever passes over the arch can be addressed 
the words first applied to Field Marshal Mercy at Nord- 
lingen, 'Sta Viator heroem calces.' " 

Frederic de Peyster, second son of the General, was 
born at Seventy-three Leonard Street, New York, 13 
December, 1842. He was a Union soldier, Assistant 
Surgeon to the Eighth New York State Militia in 1861, 
being, after his participation in the Battle of Bull Run, 
the only surgeon who returned with his regiment to New 



DE PEYSTER 37 

York. He was later Second Lieutenant of the Eighth 
New York State Militia, assigned to medical duty as 
Assistant Surgeon. During the Peninsular Campaign 
of 1862 he was assigned as Assistant Surgeon to the 
Fifty-third Regiment, ''Enfants Perdus." He was made 
Brevet Major, United States Army, and Brevet Colonel 
of the New York Volunteers, for meritorious and faithful 
services at Bull Run, first, 21 July, 1861, and on the 
Peninsula in the summer of 1862. He was married 7 
September, 1864, to Mary, only daughter of Clermont 
Livingston, and great-granddaughter of Chancellor 
Robert R. Livingston. He had issue: (1) Mary, who 
was born 22 December, 1865, and died 9 September, 
1874; (2) Clermont Livingston, born 12 June, 1867, 
who studied at Harvard and at Oxford, and who died, 
unmarried, 2 December, 1889. 

Estelle Livingston de Peyster, third child of General 
de Peyster, was born at "the 'Lodge,' at 'Snake Point,' 
Red Hook, Duchess County," New York, 7 June, 1844. 
She was married, 16 November, 1870, to James Boorman 
Toler, and died 12 December, 1889, the death of her 
husband following on the morning of the day of her 
funeral, 16 December. They had an only child, John 
Watts de Peyster Toler, born 17 September, 1871. 

Johnston Livingston de Peyster, youngest son of 
General de Peyster, was born at the Lodge, Snake Point, 
Red Hook, Duchess County, New York, 14 June, 1846. 
He was a Union soldier, being commissioned as First 
Lieutenant of the New York State Artillery in 1864, 
and Captain of the Ninety-sixth New York Volunteer 
Infantry in 1865. He was made Brevet Colonel of the New 
York Volunteers for hoisting the "first real American 
flag" over Richmond, on the morning of Monday, 3 June, 
1865. He died in Tivoli, 27 May, 1903. He married 29 
November, 1871, Julia Anna Toler, sister of his brother- 
in-law, James Boorman Toler, and daughter of William 
E. Toler. They had the following children: (1) Esther 
Estelle, who married Edward Sturges Hosmer, in 1905 ; 
(2) Mary Justina, who married Howard Townsend 



28 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Martin, in 1906; and (3) Carola Anna, who married 
Garrett Berg Kip, in 1903. 

Maria Livingston, the youngest child of General de 
Peyster, was born in "the main Mansion, Snake Point, 
Tivoli, Red Hook, Duchess County," 7 July, 1852. She 
died 24 September, 1857. She was buried in the Watts 
family vault. Trinity Churchyard, New York. "There," 
says the record in her father's Bible, "the mortal 
remains of my angel baby lie on the bosom of the 
relics of my angel mother. She was a precious child, a 
peace-maker, the light of our household, the apple of 
her parents' eyes." Subsequently she was re-buried in 
General de Peyster's family vault, St. Paul's Church, 
Tivoli. 

Outliving his wife, who died 2 August, 1898, and all 
his children, General de Peyster died 4 May, 1907, in 
his eighty-seventh year, at his town-house. Fifty-nine, 
East Twenty-first Street, New York, on the site of "Rose 
Hill," the country seat of his great-grandfather, John 
Watts, Senior. 

The de Peyster Arms: Argent, two sheep grazing 
under a linden tree, proper. 

Crest: A linden tree, proper. 

Motto : Depasco. 



CHAPTER II 

WATTS 

I John Watt, of Edinburgh, Scotland, was Deacon 
of Deacons, Deacon-Convenor, or Chairman, of the 
entire allied Trades, Crafts, or "City Corporations," of 
Edinburgh, from 1584 to 1586. In the old records he 
is styled "his Majesty's Standard Bearer," and became 
famous in the religious riot of 17 December, 1596, by 
his boldness in quelling the mob which was marching 
upon the Tolbooth, where the King and his Council were 
sitting. He saved James VI of Scotland, — later James I 
of England, — from the infuriated populace, and at the 
head of the Crafts escorted the King to his royal palace 
at Holyrood. James swore that "had it not been for 
the loyalty of the Crafts he would have burned the Town 
of Edinburgh, and salted it with salt," so that Watt 
may also be regarded as the preserver of the city. 

He was elected Collector in 1583-1584, and Burgess, 
19 April, 1587. He owned "Rose Hill," formerly a mile 
or more west of Edinburgh, but brought, by the growth 
of the city, within its limits, the site of the old house 
now being occupied by the Morrison Street Mineral 
Depot of the Caledonian Railway. Watt also owned a 
place on the Burgh Moor, as is attested by a charter 
dated 4 August, 1592. Here he was assassinated, 17 
April, 1601. One Alexander Slummon was tried for 
the murder, but was acquitted. 

The will of John Watt was recorded 29 July, 1601, 
having been offered for probate by his widow, Janet 
Boyd, in behalf of "his lawful bairns," John, Margaret, 
Janet, and Katherine. It appears, therefore, that she 
was his second wife. The name of the mother of his 
children we learn from the reference to her husband's 
appointment as Burgess, 19 April, 1587, which is as 

29 



30 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

follows: "John Watt was made Burgess of this Burgh 
by richt of Euphame Porteous his Spouse, lawful daugh- 
ter to umquihile Patrick Porteous, Merchant of the 
Burgh." 

II John Watt, the son of John Watt and Euphame, 
or Euphemia, Porteous, is only known to us by the 
above reference. We do not Imow whom he married, 
nor the dates of his marriage and death. 

III Adam Watt, of "Eose Hill," must have been 
born not later than 1620. He was Commissary of Peebles 
and Writer to the Signet. On 18 December, 1652, a 
bond for i2735, due him, was executed by Sir James 
Campbell of Lawers. This bond was registered in Court 
Books of Justice, 4 March, 1654. It was assigned, 3 
December, 1669, to Patrick Watt, one of Adam Watt's 
sons, and by assignation registered in Books of Council of 
Session, 11 November, 1680. Adam Watt had two sons: 
(1) John; and (2) Patrick, whose will, confirmed 23 
March, 1698, shows that he died in 1689 or 1690, and 
was "brother of Mr. Jolm Watt of Rosehill." 

IV John Watt, of "Rose Hill," the son of Adam 
Watt, died in 1679, as we learn from the "Testament of 
John and Patrick Watt," confirmed 20 August, 1694. 
Its sole executor was Adam Watt, "lawful son of Mr. J. 
Watt." Tlie document shows that John Home of Hutton- 
bell owed John and Patrick Watt i751, 3s., 6d., and that 
Alexander, Earl of Moray, owed il93, 17s., 8d., with 
i234 of interest, as shown by bond granted by him to 
Adam Watt, Writer to the Signet, and father of Mr. 
John Watt. Thus we get three generations: (1) Adam 
Watt, Writer to the Signet; (2) his son, John Watt, 
of "Rose Hill"; (3) the latter's son, Adam Watt. 

These facts, gathered by means of a research prosecuted 
at Edinburgh a few years ago, agree perfectly with the 
account of his ancestry left by the Honorable John 
Watts, Senior, of New York. From tliis record we 
learn that John Watt of "Rose Hill," the father of the 
Emigrant, had the following issue: (1) Adam, executor 
of his father's will, who died about 1736, leaving three 



WATTS 31 

children^ who died unmarried, (i) John, who visited the 
family of John Watts, Senior, in New York, (ii) Adam, 
Professor of Humanities in Edinburgh, and (iii) 
Margaret; (2) Robert; (3) John, who died at Philadel- 
phia, unmarried, about 1707; (4) Margaret, who married 
Sir Walter Eiddell, Bart. ; and ( 5 ) Alice, who married, 
first, Mr. Scott, of Fife, and, second, "Mr. Calderwood, 
Lord Goltown, of the Sessions," as he is called in Jolm 
Watts' record. 

V Robert Watts, who added a final "^s" to his name, 
was born in 1680 at Edinburgh, or at "Rose Hill," his 
father's estate, and was the son of John Watt, of Rose 
Hill. When about twenty years old he visited New 
York, and then returned to Scotland. A little later 
he returned, and settled in this country, although his 
son, John Watts, in his family record, stated that it 
was his father's intention to make his permanent home 
in Scotland, this intention being relinquished after the 
death of two of his children, in Edinburgh, soon after 
tlie family's arrival there. 

He married, in 1706, Mary, the daughter of William 
jSTicoll, Lord of the Nicoll Manor, at Islip, Long Island. 
They had issue: (1) Ann, born about 1707, who died 
at Edinburgh about 1724; (2) Margaret, born about 
1709, who died at Edinburgh; (3) Mary, born in May, 
1713, who married in March, 1732, Captain Richard 
Riggs, and died in 1736 ; and (4) John. 

Robert Watts died at Kew York, 21 September, 1750, 
"about 72 years of age," as his son's record states. 

VI The Honorable John Watts, son of Robert Watts 
and Mary Nicoll, was born in New York, 5 April, 1715. 
He was one of the most conspicuous figures in New 
York life during the decades preceding the War of Inde- 
pendence. His town-house was on Pearl Street, near 
Moore, while his country seat, bearing the name, "Rose 
Hill," in memory of the ancestral estate in Scotland, 
lay between Broadway, the East River, Twenty-eighth, 
and Twenty-first Streets. Lofty elms long stood at the 
entrance of the estate, at Fourth Avenue and Twenty- 



33 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

eighth Street. The New York home of his great-grand- 
son, General John Watts de Peyster, was erected on a 
portion of this estate. 

John Watts married, in Jnly, 1743, Ann de Lancey, 
the daughter of Stephen de Lancey and Anna Van Cort- 
landt. Mrs. Watts' position in the social affairs of old 
New York was as brilliant, perhaps, as that of her dis- 
tinguished husband in public life. He was a Member of 
the Assembly; served on the commission to settle the 
question of the boundary between New York and New 
Hampshire ; was one of the Colonial Committee of Corre- 
spondence, for many years a Member of the King's Coun- 
cil, and Attorney-General of the Province of New York, 
1763-1763. He was one of the founders, and the first 
President, of the New York Hospital, a founder, in 1753, 
of the New York Merchants' Exchange, a founder and 
incorporator of the New York Society Library, and for 
many years one of its Board of Trustees. 

At the outbreak of the Revolution Jolm Watts placed 
himself on the side of the English government. This, of 
course, aroused much indignation, and two of his 
mansions were burned. Much of his property was con- 
fiscated, and he sailed for England, 4 May, 1775. He 
died in Wales in 1789. He and his wife had issue: (1) 
Robert, born 33 August, 1743, who married the daughter 
of Major-General William Alexander, titular Earl of 
Stirling; (3) Ann, born 30 September, 1744, who 
married the Honorable Archibald Kennedy, and became 
the Coimtess of Cassilis; (3) Stephen, born 30 July, 
1746, who died in infancy; (4) Susanna, twin of 
Stephen, who died in childhood; (5) John; (6) Susanna, 
born 34 February, 1750-1751, who married Philip 
Kearny, becoming the mother of Major-General Stephen 
Watts Kearny, and the grandmother of Major-General 
Philip Kearny; (7) Mary, born 37 October,' 1753, who 
became the wife of Sir John Johnson, Bart. ; (8) Stephen, 
born 34 December, 1754, who was a Major in the 
British army during the Revolution ; ( 9 ) Margaret, born 
14 December, 1755, who married Major Robert Leake, 




JOHN WATTS, SENIOR 



WATTS 33 

and died in 1836; and (10) James, born in 1756, who 
died in childhood of the small-pox. 

VII The Honorable John Watts, Junior, the son of 
John Watts and Ann de Lancey, was born 37 August, 
1749. He married his first cousin, Jane de Lancey, 
daughter of Peter de Lancey and Elizabeth Golden. He 
was a man of great wealth for the period in which he 
lived, a great part of the Watts family estates having 
escaped confiscation at the Eevolution, and was able to 
re-purchase part of his father's domain of Eose Hill. 
He gave a fortune in the founding and endowment of 
the Leake and Watts Orphan House. He was a founder, 
and later the President, of the New York City Dispen- 
sary. 

John Watts, Junior, was the last Eoyal Eecorder of 
the City of Kew York, occupying this office from 1774 
to 1777. After the Eevolution he held important offices 
under the new Government. He was elected for a number 
of terms to the State Assembly, of which body he was 
Speaker from 1791 to 1794. He was a Member of 
Congress from 1793 to 1795. In 1806 he became First 
Judge of Westchester County, his country home, "Wood- 
lands,'' being near New Eochelle. He died 3 September, 
1836, and was buried in Trinity Church-yard, New York 
City. 

His issue was as follows : ( 1 ) John, born in New 
York about 1775, who died unmarried; (2) Henry, born 
in New York about 1777, who died unmarried; (3) 
Eobert, born in New York about 1780, known as the 
handsomest man in town, served in the War of 1812 as 
Captain of United States Infantry, was on the staff of 
General King with the rank of Major, and died unmar- 
ried, in 1830, having taken the name of Leake, thereby 
securing a fortune left him by John George Leake, an 
intimate friend of his father; (4) George, born in New 
York about 1783, an officer in the War of 1812, who 
distinguished himself especially at the Battle of 
Chippewa, 5 July, 1814, as an Aide-de-Camp to General 
Winfield Scott, and who died unmarried; (5) Stephen 



34 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

Watts, born in New York about 1785, who died unmar- 
ried; (6) Ann, born in New York about 1787, who died 
unmarried; (7) Jane, born in New York about 1790, 
who died unmarried; (8) Elizabeth, born in New York 
about 1793, who married Henry Laight; (9) Susan, born 
in New York about 1795, who married her cousin, Philip 
Kearny, and became the mother of Major-General Philip 
Kearny; and (10) Mary Justina. 

VIII Mary Justina Watts, the daughter of the Honor- 
able John Watts and Jane de Lancey, was born in New 
York, 26 October, 1801. She was married in her father's 
home. Number Three, Broadway, New York, 15 May, 
1820, to Frederic de Peyster. She died 28 July, 1821, 
leaving one son, 

IX John Watts de Peyster. 

The Watts Arms: Argent, an oak tree, growing out 
of a mount in base, vert, — over all, on a bar, azure, a 
crescent, between two mullets of the first. 

Crest: A cubit arm, erect, issuing from a cloud, in 
the hand a branch of olive, all proper. 

Motto: Servire forti non deficit telum. 




MRS. FREDERIC DE PEYSTER, NEE MARY JUSTINA WATTS 
From a marble bust executed by George E. Bissell 



CHAPTEE III 

DE LANCEY AND GOLDEN 

The reputed descent of Etienne de Lancey, the first 
of the name in America, from the noble French house of 
de Lancy, as gathered from family tradition and French 
records, is as follows: 

I Guy de Lancy, Vicomte de Laval et de Nouviou, was 
living about 1432. He married Anne de Marcilly. 

II Jean de Lancy, son of Guy de Lancy and Anne 
de Marcilly, was the second Vicomte, and lived about 
1436. 

III Jean de Lancy, son of Jean de Lancy, was the 
third Vicomte, and was living in 1470. In 1484 he was 
Deputy to the States General at Tours. He fought at 
the battles of Fournoue and Ravenna. 

IV Charles de Lancy, the son of Jean de Lancy, was 
the fourth Vicomte, and was living in 1525. He married, 
first, A, Nicole St. Pere, and, second, Marie de Villiers. 
He had issue: (1) a daughter, by his first marriage, 
who married Antoine Pioche, of Laon; (3) Charles de 
Lancy; and (3) Christophe, Seigneur de Earay, who 
died in 1584. 

V Charles de Lancy, the son of Charles de Lancy and 
Marie de Villiers, was the fifth Vicomte, and was living 
in 1535. He married, 15 April, 1534, Isabel Branche. 
They had issue: (1) Charles, the sixth Vicomte, who 
fought at Ivry, and who married, first, 21 July, 1569, 
Madeleine Le Brun, and, second, 15 January, 1593, 
Claude de May; (2) Jacques; (3) Claude; and (4) 
Barbe. 

VI Jacques de Lancy was the second son of Charles 
de Lancy, the fifth Vicomte de Laval et de Nouvions, 
and of Isabel Branche. 

35 



36 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

VII Seigneur Jacques de Lancy was the son of 
Jacques de Lancy. He married Marguerite, tlie daughter 
of Pierre Bertrand, of Caen, and of the latter's first wife, 
the Demoiselle Firel. 

VIII Etienne, or Stephen, de Lancey was the son of 
Seigneur Jacques de Lancy and Marguerite Bertrand. 
He was born at Caen, 24 October, 1663. At the Eevoca- 
tion of the Edict of JSTantes, in 1685, he fled to Holland, 
and thence to London. As an English subject he sailed, 
20 March, 1686, for New York, where he arrived, 7 June, 
1686. Here he became a wealthy merchant, and from 
the first was prominent in the aifairs of the town and 
the province. 

In 1691 he was Alderman of New York. He repre- 
sented the city and county of New York in the Provincial 
Assemblv from 1702 to 1715, except during the year 
1709, aiid from 1725 to 1737. He was a vestryman of 
Trinity Church, and, in 1716, contributed i50 to buy a 
clock for the church. He was also a benefactor of the 
French Church in New York — "L^Eglise du Saint- 
Esprit." One of his most important acts of public 
benevolence was his introduction, in association with John 
Moore, of the use of fire-engines in New York. This 
was in 1731. He died in 1741. 

In his will, dated 4 March, 1735, and proved 24 
November, he mentions his "mansion house, * * * in 
the street commonly called the Broadway, in New York, 
to the northward of Trinity Church," which he bequeathes 
to his wife during her life-time. This ''mansion house" 
occupied the block between Broadway, Thames, Cedar, 
and Greenwich Streets. On Stephen de Lancey's mar- 
riage, his father-in-law had presented him and his wife 
with the lot on the corner of Broad and Pearl Streets, 
the present site of the famous Fraunce's Tavern. In his 
will Stephen de Lancey states that he has already 
provided for his son, James, and his daughter, Susanna, 
and makes bequests to his other children. The legacy 
to his son, Peter, was "all my mills, mill houses, mill 
boat, farm and lands situate in Westchester County, upon 



DB LAKCEY AND GOLDEN 37 

the Bronx river." He gives Peter also iSOOO, and to his 
daughter, Anne, ioOO, as well as her interest in £13000, 
invested for his youngest children in the firm of Stephen 
De Lancey and Company. 

Stephen de Lancey had a sister, the vrife of John 
Barberie, of New York. The latter, a Member of 
the Council of the Province, was a merchant, in partner- 
ship with his brother-in-law. 

Stephen de Lancey married, 19 January, 1700, Anna, 
the daughter of De Heer Stephanus Van Cortlandt. They 
had issue: (1) James, of whom an account is given 
below; (2) Peter; (3) Oliver, of whom a description 
follows; (4) Stephen, who died unmarried; (5) John, 
who died unmarried; (6) Susan, who became the wife of 
Admiral Sir Peter Warren; and (7) Ann, who married 
Honorable John Watts, Senior. 

James de Lancey, the son of Stephen de Lancey and 
Anna Van Cortlandt, was born 27 November, 1703. He 
studied at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge University, 
and studied law at the Temple, in London. Eeturning 
to New York in 1725, he was from 1729 to 1733 a 
Member of the Provincial Council; in 1733 was appointed 
Chief Justice of New York, which oflSce he held until 
his death; in 1753 became Lieutenant Governor, — the 
same year, by the death of the Governor, Sir Danvers 
Osborn, becoming Governor until 1755 ; in 1757 became 
Acting Governor, remaining such until his death; in 
1754 presided over the famous Congress of Albany, com- 
posed of delegates from all the Colonies and from the 
various Indian Tribes; and in the same year, 1754, 
signed the charter of King's College, now Columbia 
University. James de Lancey married Anne, the 
daughter of Caleb Heathcote, Lord of Scarsdale Manor. 
He died 30 July, 1760. 

Oliver de Lancey, the son of Stephen de Lancey and 
Anna Van Cortlandt, was born in 1717. He served in 
the French and Indian War; in 1759 was elected to 
the House of Assembly; and in 1760 became a Member 
of the Council. At the outbreak of the War for Inde- 



38 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

pendence he placed himself on the side of the British, 
and, in 1776, was made Brigadier General in the Royal 
Army, being in command of three battalions, known as 
de Lancey's Battalions. He served until the end of the 
War, and at its close settled in England, where he died 
in 1785. General Oliver de Lancey married Phelia 
Franks, of Philadelphia. 

IX Peter de Lancey, the son of Stephen de Lancey 
and Anna Van Cortlandt, was born 26 August, 1705. He 
was a Member of the Assembly from Westchester County 
for many years, and was High Sheriff of Westchester 
County. As has been shown, he was a principal legatee 
in his father's will. He died 17 October, 1770. He 
married, 7 January, 1737-1738, Elizabeth, the daughter 
of Governor Cadwallader Colden. Their issue was: (1) 
Stephen, a lawyer, who was Recorder of Albany, and 
Clerk of Tyron County; (2) John, a Member of the 
Assembly from Westchester County, High Sheriff of that 
County, who married Miss Wickham; (3) Peter, who 
became a lawyer of Charleston, South Carolina; (4) 
Anne, who married John Coxe, of Philadelphia; (5) 
Alice, who married Ralph Izard, of South Carolina, a 
Delegate to the Continental Congress, 1780-1783, and 
United States Senator from South Carolina, 1789-1795 ; 
(6) Elizabeth, who died unmarried; (7) James, High 
Sheriff of Westchester County, a Tory during the Revo- 
lution, who headed a troop of light-horse, going at the 
close of the War to Nova Scotia, where he was appointed, 
in 1794, a Member of the Council, and where he died, in 
1800; (8) Oliver, of West Farms, who resigned his 
Lieutenancy in the British Navy because of his loyalty 
to the American cause, at the time of the Revolution, and 
who died at Westchester, 4 September, 1820 ; (9) Susanna, 
who married Colonel Thomas y^ Barclay ; (10) Warren, 
who was drowned in childhood; (11) Warren, who 
ran away from home to join the British forces, was made 
a Cornet of Horse for his bravery at the Battle of White 
Plains, and removed to Madison County, New York; 
and (12) Jane. 



DE LANCEY AND GOLDEN 39 

X Jane, the daughter of Peter de Lancey and Eliza- 
beth Golden, was born 5 September, 1756, and died 2 
March, 1809. She married her cousin, the Honorable 
John Watts, Junior, son of the Honorable John Watts, 
Senior, and Ann de Lancey, 

XI Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de Peyster. 

XII General Jolin Watts de Peyster. 

The other line of descent to General de Peyster from 
Stephen de Lancey and Anna Van Gortlandt is as follows : 

IX Ann de Lancey, the daughter of Stephen de 
Lancey and Anna Van Gortlandt, was born 23 April, 
1723. She married the Honorable John Watts, Senior, in 
July, 1742, and died 3 July, 1775. 

X The Honorable John Watts, Junior. 

XI Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de Peyster. 

XII General Jolm Watts de Peyster. 

The de Lancey Arms: Azure, a pennon, or, the flag 
flying toward dexter, argent, over all, a bar, or. 

Grest: A sinister arm, vambraced and embowed, hold- 
ing the pennon of the shield. 

Motto: Gertum pete voto finem. 

GOLDEN 

I The Eeverend Alexander Golden was a minister of 
Dunse, Scotland. 

II Gadwallader Golden, the son of the Eeverend 
Alexander Golden, was born in Dunse, Scotland, 17 Feb- 
ruary, 1688, and died at his country seat, at Flushing, 
Long Island, 28 September, 1776. He completed his 
collegiate education at the University of Edinburgh in 
1705, at the age of seventeen, spent three years in the 
study of mathematics and medicine, and, coming to Amer- 
ica in 1708, practised medicine for five years in 
Philadelphia. He returned to Great Britain in 1715, 
and while there married Alice Ghristie, the daughter of 
the Eeverend Mr. Ghristie, the minister of Kelso, 
Scotland. 

In 1716 he returned to America, settling in New York 
Gity in 1718, at the solicitation of Governor Hunter, 



40 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

who in 1719 appointed him the first Surveyor-General 
of the Province of New York, and Master in Chancery. 
He was a member of the King's Council from 1720 to 

1760, when he became its President and administered 
the Government. Appointed Lieutenant-Governor in 

1761, he held this oflSce until his death, and served as 
Acting Governor upon the death or during the absence 
of several Governors. He was Acting Governor in Novem- 
ber, 1765, at the time of the Stamp Act in New 
York, at which time the mob burned his carriages and 
sleighs on Bowling Green before his eyes, threatening to 
hang him. Living until a few months after the Declara- 
tion of Independence, he retained his allegiance to the 
British Government. 

Golden was a leading founder of the American Philo- 
sophical Society, and several benevolent organizations 
were incorporated under his administration. He was the 
intimate friend of Benjamin Franklin, and ranks with 
the latter at the head of American scientists and savants 
of the Colonial period. He maintained a long corre- 
spondence with Pranklin, it being the custom of both to 
inform each other of their progress in discoveries. He 
was also on intimate terms with the astronomer, Halley, 
the naturalist, Linnaeus, and other learned men of 
Europe. He wrote for Linnaeus a description of some 
three or four hundred American plants. 

About 1750 Colden obtained the grant of a large tract 
of land near Newburgh-on-the-Hudson, and on this 
estate, called Coldenham, he carried on his scientific 
pursuits much of the time after 1755. 

He was the author of a number of learned and valuable 
books and pamphlets, among the most important of 
which were: Animal Secretions; A History of the 
Five Indian Nations Depending upon New York; Cause 
of Gravitation; Principles of Action in Matter; An 
Essay on the Virtues of the Bortanico or Great "Water- 
Dock; Observations on Exidemical Sore Throat; Obser- 
vations on Smith's History of New York. In medical 
and sanitary matters he was in advance of many thinkera 



DE LANCEY AND GOLDEN 41 

of his day. An example of this was his advocacy of the 
system now in use, but then regarded as dangerous by 
most European physicians, of using cooling methods in 
treating fevers. In 1742 he received the thanks of the 
Corporation of the City of New York for a pamphlet 
showing the danger to public health from unsanitary 
conditions which had aggravated an epidemic in New 
York at the time. 

Governor Colden's wife died in 1762. They had the 
following children: (1) Alexander, born about 1716, 
died in December, 1774, who succeeded his father as 
Surveyor-General, and was also Post Master; (2) Eliza- 
beth; (3) David, born about 1733, died in England 10 
July, 1784, having removed from America after the Eev- 
olution, who was a physician and man of letters, held 
the ofiBce of Surveyor-General, and who married Ann, 
the daughter of John Willet, of Flushing, Long Island. 

III Elizabeth Golden, the daughter of Governor 
Cadwallader Golden and Alice Christie, was married 7 
January, 1737-1738, to Peter de Lancey. 

IV Jane de Lancey, wife of the Honorable John 
"Watts, Junior. 

V Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de Peyster. 

VI General John Watts de Peyster. 

The Golden Arms: Gules, a chevron, argent, between 
three stags' heads and necks, erased and cabossed, or. 
Grest: A stag's head, cabossed, or. 
Motto: Fais bien, crains rien. 



CHAPTEE IV 

VAN CORTLANDT AND LOOCKERMANS 

I Steven Van Cortlandt was probably a resident of 
Wyck, in Duurstede, the Netherlands. 

II Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt, born in 
Wyck, Duurstede, was, as his name indicates, the son 
of Steven Van Cortlandt. A soldier in the service of 
the West India Company, he came to New Amsterdam 
in 1637, on the ship "Haring." At first he acted as 
bookkeeper, later, under Kieft, as the public store- 
keeper, afterwards becoming a trader and brewer. These 
commercial pursuits did not prevent Captain Van Cort- 
landt from being, from the time of his arrival in the 
colony, a man of force and natural leadership. The 
offices of power and dignity held by him show this very 
plainly. He was Captain of the Train Band, a post, 
which, in all the colonial settlements, was, from the 
nature and number of the dangers besetting them, 
entrusted only to men of tested strength and reliable judg- 
ment. In July, 1639, two years after his coming to New 
Amsterdam, he was appointed Commissary of Cargoes. 
In 1645 he was elected to the Board of Eight Men, and 
in 1649 to the Board of Nine Men, of which latter body 
he became President in 1650. He was Schepen of the 
town in 1654 and Burgomaster from 1655 to 1659, 1662- 
1663, and in 1665. In October, 1663, he served as 
Boundary Commissioner to Hartford, and in 1664 was 
a Commissioner to treat with Nicolls regarding the 
surrender of New Amsterdam to the English. He was 
Alderman in 1666-1667, 1671 and 1673. 

Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt married, 26 
Eebruary, 1642, Anneken Loockermans, from Turnhout, 
in the Netherlands. She was a sister of Govert Loocker- 
mans, at the baptism of whose daughter she was a wit- 

42 



VAN COETLANDT AND LOOCKERMANS 43 

ness in 1641, Their issue was: (1) Stephanus; (3) 
Marritie, baptized 33 July, 1645, who married Colonel 
Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Patroon of Rensselaerwyck ; 

(3) Johannes, born 11 October, 1648, who died in 1667; 

(4) Fytie, or Sophia, who was born 31 May, 1651, and 
married Andrew Teller; (5) Catharina, born 25 Octo- 
ber, 1653, who married, first, Colonel Jan der Vail, 3 
November, 1675, and, second, Frederick Philipse, 30 
November, 1693; (6) Cornelia, who was born 31 Novem- 
ber, 1655, and married Barent Schuyler; and (7) 
Jacobus. 

Ill Jacobus Van Cortlandt, the third son of Captain 
Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt and Anneken Loockermans, 
was born in New York City 7 July, 1658. He became 
a New York merchant and a wealthy land proprietor. 
He owned large estates in the town of Bedford, AVest- 
chester, which property descended to the Jay family, and 
was the proprietor of Old Yonckers, or the Lower Cort- 
landt Manor, comprising eight hundred and fifty acres 
on the road to Yonkers, a mile north of King's Bridge. 
Like his father, he was a man of public spirit, holding 
high office in the afl^airs of the Colony. He was a Mem- 
ber of the New York Assembly from New York City in 
1691, represented the Dock Ward in the Common 
Council, and was Maj'^or of New York from 1710 to 
1719. 

Jacobus Van Cortlandt married Eva, the daughter of 
Pieter Rudolphus De Vries and Margaret Hardenbroeck, 
and adopted daughter of Frederick Philipse, Lord of the 
Manor of Philipsburgh. The date of her marriage 
license was 7 May, 1691. Her husband died in 1739. 
In his will, dated 13 May, 1739, he calls his main 
estate "The Little or Lower Yonckers," and bequeathes 
property in New York City to his "eldest daughter, 
Margaret, wife of Abraham de Peyster." 

Jacobus Van Cortlandt and Eva Philipse had issue: 
(1) Frederick, who married Frances Jay; (3) Mar- 
garet; (3) Anne, who married the Honorable John 
Chambers, Judge of the Supreme Court; (4) Mary, who 



44 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

became the wife of Peter Jay, and the mother of the 
Honorable John Jay. 

IV Margaret Van Cortlandt, the daughter of Jaco- 
bus Van Cortlandt and Eva Philipse, was married, 1 
July, 1723, to Abraham de Peyster. 

V James de Peyster. 

VI Captain Frederic de Peyster. 

VII Frederic de Peyster. 

VIII General John Watts de Peyster. 

General de Peyster's ancestry also contains two other 
lines from the first Van Cortlandt, as follows : 

I Steven Van Cortlandt, of Wyck, in Duurstede. 

II Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt, who mar- 
ried Anneken Loockermans. 

III De Heer Stephanus Van Cortlandt, the eldest 
child of Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt and Anne- 
ken Loockermans, was born in 1643. He was the first 
Lord of Van Cortlandt Manor, having purchased from 
the Indians in 1683 eiglity-three thousand acres of land 
on the east side of the Hudson, between the mouth of 
the Croton Eiver and Anthony's Nose, as well as a tract 
on the west side of the river, which vast estate was in 
1697 erected by Governor Fletcher into a Manor. 

The first Lord of Cortlandt Manor was essentially an 
aristocrat. He was of the class of men who, by birth, 
honored position in the community, and by personal 
ability, are given, as a matter of course, under a system 
recognizing these elements of suitability, positions of 
command and responsibility. He was one of the most 
brilliant figures of his times, one of the picturesque 
grandees who add a dignity and grave magnificence to 
the history of the turbulent little town of New York in 
the closing decades of the Seventeenth Century. 

A typical aristocrat, he naturally distrusted and con- 
demned the popular movement under the leadership of 
Leisler, and was one of the latter's strongest opponents. 
Mayor of New York in 1677 and 1686, he also held that 
office in 1689, when Leisler first assumed command of 
the city. Leisler's success deprived him for two years 



VAN COETLANDT AND LOOCKEEMANS 45 

of the membership in the King's Council which, with 
the exception of that period, he held from 1680 until 
his death. In 1686 he was Manager of the Eevenue; in 
1698, Collector of Customs and Eeceiver-General. Be- 
coming Ensign in 1668, he rose to the rank of Colonel in 
1693, commanding the King's County Militia. He was 
Justice of the Supreme Court in 1693, and was First 
Judge of the Common Pleas of King's County. 

De Heer Stephanus died 25 November, 1700. His 
will, dated 14 April, 1700, bequeathes a portion of his 
Manor to his eldest son, Johannes, and the remainder in 
equal parts to his other children. He married, 10 Sep- 
tember, 1671, Gertrude, the daughter of Captain Philip 
Pietersen Schuyler, born 4 February, 1654, who died in 
1718. Their issue was: (1) Johannes, who married 
Anna Van Schaick; (2) Margrietje, who married, first, 
Samuel Bayard, and, second, Peter Kemble; (3) Anna; 
(4) Olof, who died unmarried, his will being dated 23 
December, 1706; (5) Elizabeth, who was born in 1691; 
(6) Maria, who married Kilian Van Eensselaer, Patroon 
of Eensselaerwj'ck ; (7) Philip, who married Catharine 
de Peyster; (8) Stephen, who married Catalina, the 
daughter of Doctor Samuel Staats, one of Leisler's 
Council; (9) Gertrude, who married Colonel Henry 
Beekman, of Ehinebeck, a grandson of William Beek- 
man. Vice Director of the Colony of Delaware; (10) 
Elizabeth, who married the Eev. William Skinner; (11) 
Catharine, who married Andrew Johnston, of New York 
and New Jersey; (12) Cornelia, who married John 
Schuyler. 

IV Anna Van Cortlandt, daughter of De Heer 
Stephanus Van Cortlandt and Gertrude Schuyler, was 
married, 19 January, 1700, to Stephen de Lancey. Gen- 
eral de Peyster descended from two of the children of 
Anna Van Cortlandt and Stephen de Lancey. The first 
line of descent is through a daughter. 

V Ann de Lancey, daughter of Anna Van Cortlandt 
and Stephen de Lancey, and wife of the Honorable John 
Watts, Senior. 



46 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

VI The Honorable John Watts, Junior. 

VII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de Peyster. 

VIII General John Watts de Peyster. 

The other line of descent is through a son, as fol- 
lows: 

V Peter de Lancey, son of Anna Van Cortlandt and 
Stephen de Lancey. 

VI Jane de Lancey, wife of the Honorable John 
Watts, Junior. 

VII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de Peyster. 

VIII General John Watts de Peyster. 

Through a daughter of the first Van Cortlandt in 
America, General de Peyster also inherited a fourth 
strain of the Van Cortlandt blood. 

I Stephen Van Cortlandt, of Wyck, in Duurstede. 

II Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt, who mar- 
ried Anneken Loockermans. 

III Marritie, the daughter of Captain Olof Stevense 
Van Cortlandt and Anneken Loockermans, was baptized 
23 July, 1645. She became the wife of Colonel Jeremiah 
Van Rensselaer. 

IV Anna Van Rensselaer, daughter of Colonel Jere- 
miah Van Rensselaer and Marritie Van Cortlandt, and 
wife of William Nicoll. 

V Mary Nicoll, wife of Robert Watts. 

VI The Honorable John Watts, Senior. 

VII The Honorable John Watts, Junior. 

IX Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de Peyster. 

X General John Watts de Peyster. 

Thus General de Peyster was a descendant in four 
lines from Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt and 
Anneken Loockermans: (1) through their son, De 
Heer Stephanus, his daughter, Anna Van Cortlandt, and 
her daughter, Ann de Lancey; (2) through De Heer 
Stephanus, his daughter, Anna Van Cortlandt, and her 
son, Peter de Lancey; (3) through Jacobus, son of Cap- 
tain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt; and (4) through 
Marritie, daughter of Captain Olof Stevense, who became 
the wife of Colonel Jeremiah Van Rensselaer. 



VAN" COKTLANDT AND LOOCKERMANS 47 

The Van Cortlandt Arms: Argent, the four wings 
of a wind-mill, conjoined, saltirewise, sable, voided, gules, 
between five mullets, placed crosswise of the last. 

Crest: A star, gules, between two wings displayed, 
the dexter, argent, the sinister, sable. 

Motto : Virtus sibi munus. 

LOOCKERMANS 

I Jan Looekermans, probably a resident of Turnhout, 
the Netherlands, had the following children: (1) Go- 
vert; (2) Pieter Janse; (3) Jacob Janse; (4) Anneken. 

Govert Looekermans was born at Turnhout, and came 
to America, first, in 1633. He returned to Amsterdam, 
where he married, 26 February, 1641, Ariaentje Jans. 
Coming again to New Netherland, he was a successful 
trader and a brewer on a large scale, his brewery being 
located on Pearl street. New Amsterdam. A bold, able 
man, he rose to prominence in the official life of the 
city, being one of the Board of Nine Men from 1647 to 
1650, Schepen in 1657 and 1660, and one of the Orphan 
Masters in 1663. In 1670 he was commissioned Lieu- 
tenant. His second marriage, to Marritje Jans, took 
place 11 July, 1649, in New Amsterdam. He died prob- 
ably in 1670. A step-daughter of Govert Looekermans 
became the wife of Jacob Leisler. 

Pieter Janse Looekermans was in New Amsterdam by 
1642. In 1656 he was a citizen of Beverwyck, and in 
1658 was a boatswain in the employ of the West India 
Company. 

Jacob Janse Looekermans was a resident of Beverwyck 
in 1657. In 1664 he was one of two commissioners to 
arrange a treaty of peace between the Mohawks and the 
Abenaquis Indians. He was living in 1700. 

II Anneken Looekermans, the daughter of Jan 
lioockermans, was born in Turnhout, the Netherlands. 
She came to America probably with her brother, Govert, 
on the latter's return to New Netherlands, after his first 
marriage. The first mention of her found in the records 
here is on the occasion of the baptism of Govert Loocker- 



48 JOHN" WATTS DE PEYSTER 

man's daughter, Marritje, 1 December, 1641. She was 
married in the Dutch Church, New Amsterdam, 26 Feb- 
ruary, 1642, to Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt. 
She died 14 May, 1684, about a month after her hus- 
band's death. Her epitaph was written by Dominie 
Selyns, and has been mentioned as an example of the 
poetry of the Dutch Colonial period. 

General de Peyster had four lines of descent from 
Anneken Loockermans. These were as follows: 

1 

III De Heer Stephanus Van Cortlandt, son of Anne- 
ken Loockermans and Captain Olof Stevense Van Cort- 
landt. 

IV Anna Van Cortlandt, wife of Stephen de Lancey. 

V Ann de Lancey, wife of the Honorable John 
Watts, Senior. 

VI The Honorable John Watts, Junior. 

VII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de Pey- 
ster. 

VIII General John Watts de Peyster. 

2 

III De Heer Stephanus Van Cortlandt, son of Anne- 
ken Loockermans and Captain Olof Stevense Van Cort- 
landt. 

IV Anna Van Cortlandt, wife of Stephen de Lancey. 

V Peter de Lancey. 

VI Jane de Lancey, wife of the Honorable John 
Watts, Junior. 

VII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de Peyster. 

VIII General John Watts de Peyster. 

3 

III Jacobus Van Cortlandt, son of Anneken Loocker- 
mans and Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt. 

IV Margaret Van Cortlandt, wife of Abraham de 
Peyster. 

V James de Peyster. 

VI Captain Frederic de Peyster. 

VII Frederic de Peyster. 

VIII General John Watts de Peyster. 



VAN CORTLANDT AND LOOCKERMANS 49 

4 

III Marritje, daughter of Anneken Loockermans and 
Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt, and wife of 
Colonel Jeremiah Van Rensselaer. 

IV Anna Van Rensselaer, wife of William Nicoll. 

V Mary Nicoll, wife of Robert Watts. 

VI The Honorable John Watts, Senior. 

VII The Honorable Jolin Watts, Junior. 

VIII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de Pey- 
ster. 

IX General John Watts de Peyster. 



CHAPTER V 

LIVINGSTON AND MAC PHEADRI8 

The Livingston family is one of the oldest and noblest 
in Scotch history. From the time of the traditionary 
ancestor in the Eleventh Century, who is said to have 
accompanied Margaret, the future Queen of Scotland, 
when she entered that country, the Livingstons have been 
distinguished for their intimate relations of service and 
their ardent loyalty to the sovereigns of Scotland. Their 
fidelity to the Stuart cause caused them the loss of their 
lands, when, in the Eighteenth Century, James, Fifth 
Earl of Linlithgow, was attainted and deprived of his 
estates, during one of the Jacobite uprisings. 

The ancestor whom legend has assigned as the founder 
of the great Scotch house was Leving, or Living, a Hun- 
garian noble in the suite of St, Margaret, when she came 
with her brother, Edgar Aetheling, to the Court of Mal- 
colm Canmore, her future husband. It is said that 
many of the followers in the train of the Saxon princess 
remained, after her marriage, in Scotland, where they 
were granted lands. This may be true; but it is more 
probable that the head of the Livingston family was a 
Saxon, since the name "Living" is not an infrequent one 
among the Saxon chronicles. It was the name of the 
Archbishop of Canterbury who crowned King Canute, 
and of other great ecclesiastics of the Saxon times. Per- 
haps one of the earliest historic references to the family 
name is in a charter granted to the Canons of Holy Cross 
Church in Edinburgh. In abstract, this is as follows : 

"The Church of Livingston. 
Thurstan, the son of Living, * * * greeting: * * * I 
have granted and by this my charter confirmed to God 
and to the Church of the Holy Cross of the Castle of 
the Maidens and to the canons serving God there, the 

50 



LIVINGSTON AND MAC PHEADETS 51 

church of Livingston, with half a plough of land and a 
toft, and with all the rights pertaining thereto, as my 
father gave them, in free and perpetual alms. * * *" 

Tliis Living, the father of Thurstan, held lands during 
the reign of Alexander I (1107-1124), on the site of the 
present village of Livingston, in Linlithgowshire. 

I The first authentically known ancestor of that 
branch of the Livingston family from which Eobert, the 
first in America, was descended was Sir Andrew de 
Livingston, who, before 1395, was Sheriff of Lanach. 
In 1296 he, with a kinsman. Sir Archibald de Livingston, 
swore allegiance to Edward I. of England. When that 
king departed for Flanders, the following year, he called 
upon a number of the chief men of Scotland to follow 
him, among these being the two Livingstons. Whether 
they obeyed Edward's summons is unknown, but the fam- 
ily appears to have been loyal to Bruce, their castle, now 
in ruins, having been attacked many times during this 
stormy period, as it was also during the civil wars of 
Scotland in the reign of Queen Mary Stuart. Sir 
Andrew de Livingston married Elena, and had a son, 
William. 

II William de Livingston, son of Sir Andrew, in 
1328 confirmed to the canons of Holyrood the right of 
building a mill lade on his property of Gorgyn. He 
conferred a somewhat similar privilege on the monks of 
Newbotle, stating that he had done this charitable deed 
for the good of his own soul, and those of his wife, Mar- 
garet, his father, Andrew, his mother, Elena, his chil- 
dren, his predecessors, and his successors. By his wife 
he had a son, William. 

III Sir William Livingston, son of William de Liv- 
ingston and Margaret, was sent in 1340 with four others 
to England as hostages for Randolph, Earl of Murray, 
a prisoner of the English, who was desirous of returning 
to Scotland to raise a ransom, A year later Sir William 
returned to Scotland. He was at the siege of Stirling, 
and was sent on an important mission to France to give 
information to the Scotch King, David II., of the fact 



52 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

that most of his domain had been freed from the English. 
When the King came back to his own country he granted 
to Sir William a charter of the barony of Callendar in 
Stirlingshire, which had passed to the Crown because of 
the disloyalty of Sir Patrick Callendar, an adherent of 
Baliol. Sir Patrick's daughter, Christian, became the 
wife of Sir William Livingston. 

The latter was with his King at the Battle of Neville's 
Cross in England, 17 October, 1346, and for his valor 
was made Knight Banneret. With the King he was 
taken prisoner, but was soon set free. During the period 
of negotiation for the ransom of King David, Sir 
William played an important part in the service of his 
sovereign, being one of the Commissioners to settle this 
matter and make a treaty between the two countries. 
He was one of the six Scottish Commissioners who 
signed the treaty. He died probably some time between 
1363 and 1364. Through him the lands of Callendar 
came into the Livingston family, and also the Kilsyth 
estates. 

By his wife. Christian de Callendar, Sir William Liv- 
ingston had issue : (1) Patrick; (3) William, who was 
one of twenty young men of rank named in the above- 
mentioned treaty between England and Scotland to 
remain in England as hostages until the King's ransom 
was paid, in which service his brother, Patrick, became 
his substitute, the latter probably dying in England ; ( 3 ) 
John. That John was the son of Sir William Livingston 
has been questioned; it has been thought that he was 
his grandson. It appears probable, however, that Sir 
William was succeeded by his son, William, and that the 
latter was, in turn, succeeded by a brother, John. 

IV Sir John Livingston of Callendar, the son or 
grandson of Sir William, married, first, a daughter of 
Menteith of Carse, and, second, in 1381, Agnes, daughter 
of Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith. In 1398-9 he was 
a member of the Council appointed by the King to assist 
the latter's son, the Duke of Eothsay, in conducting the 
affairs of the kingdom during the illness of Eobert III. 



LIVINGSTON AND MAC PHEADRIS 53 

Later Sir John became Auditor, and then Chamberlain, 
to Eobert, Duke of Albany, uncle of King Eobert III. 
He was killed at the battle of Homildon Hill, Northum- 
berland. By his first marriage Sir John had issue: (1) 
Sir Alexander; (3) Eobert; and (3) John. By his 
second marriage, his children were : (4) Archibald, who 
was demented; and (5) Sir William Livingston of 
Kilsyth. 

V Sir Alexander Livingston, of Callendar, the eldest 
son of Sir John Livingston by his marriage with a 
daughter of Menteith of Carse, was appointed Justiciary 
of Scotland. In 1449 he was sent as Ambassador to 
England. He married a daughter of Dundas of Dundas, 
and had a son, James. 

VI Sir James Livingston, of Callendar, the son of 
Sir Alexander Livingston, was the Captain of Stirling 
Castle. He became tutor to the young King James 11. 
He was created a peer of Scotland, becoming the first 
Lord Livingston. He died about 1467. By his mar- 
riage with Marion, he had issue: (1) James, second 
Lord Livingston, who was thrice married, but left no 
issue; (2) Alexander; (3) Elizabeth, who married 
John, Earl of Eoss, Lord of the Isles; (4) Eupheme, 
who married, first, Malcolm, son and heir of Eobert, 
Lord Fleming, and, second, William Fleming. 

VII Alexander Livingston, the second son of Sir 
James Livingston and Marion, had a son, John. 

VIII John, third Lord Livingston, the son of Alex- 
ander, succeeded his uncle, James, the second Lord Liv- 
ingston. He married, first, Elizabeth, daughter of 
Eobert, Lord Fleming, and, second, a daughter of Sir 
John Houston, of Houston. He died before 1510. He 
had issue: (1) William, son of the first marriage; (2) 
Alexander, son of the second marriage, whose male line 
of descendants is now extinct. 

IX William, fourth Lord Livingston, son of John, 
the third Lord, and Elizabeth Fleming, married a 
daughter of Hepburn. They had issue: (1) Alexan- 
der, the fifth Lord Livingston, and Earl of Linlithgow, 



54 JOHN" WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

whose daughter was the Maid of Honor to Mary, Queen 
of Scots, one of the four "Queen's Maries;" (3) Mar- 
garet, who married John, Lord Hay; (3) Isabel, who 
married Nicol Ramsay, of Dalhousie; and (4) Robert. 

X Robert Livingston, son of William, the fourth 
Lord Livingston, is the next in the line of descent to 
Robert Livingston, of the Province of New York, accord- 
ing to a letter which was written to the latter by a 
brother in Scotland. The following extract from this 
letter is of much significance. 

"I purposed to procure your coat of arms and have 
prepared it so far that I find you the son of Mr. John, 
whose father was Mr. Alexander, whose father was 
Robert, killed at Pinkiefield 1547, and brother german 
to Alexander, Lord Livingston, their father was William, 
4th Lord and 8th of Callendar, who married Hepburn, 
daughter of Sir Patrick. So your proper coat of arms 
is this enclosed. Quarterly 1 & 4 argent, 3 gillie flowers 
gules, slipped propper within a double tressure, umber 
florescent the name of Livingston, 2nd quartered 1st and 
last gules, a chiffron argent, a roll between two lions 
counter rampant of the field, 2nd and 3rd argent 3 
martlets gules, the name of Hepburn, 3rd quarter sable 
a bend between six billets or name of Callendar, Your 
liveries is green faced with white and red, green and 
white passiments.^' 

According to the above, Robert Livingston died in 
1547, at the Battle of Pinkiefield, when the Scotch army 
was defeated by the English under Somerset. 

XI The Reverend Alexander Livingston, of Monya- 
broch, the son of Robert Livingston, was presented to 
his benefice by William, the sixth Lord Livingston. 

XII The Reverend John Livingston, son of the Rev- 
erend Alexander Livingston, received the degree of Mas- 
ter of Arts from the College of Glasgow, in July, 1621. 
He was among the most prominent of the ministers 
of the "Kirk" in Scotland of his time. In 1649 he was 
sent by the Scottish Parliament as one of the committee 
to treat with Charles I. at The Hague. It is believed that 



LIVINGSTON AND MAC PHEADEIS 55 

at two different times he contemplated emigration to 
America, but in 1662, on being exiled by the Council of 
Edinburgh, he went to Holland, where he died, at 
Rotterdam, in 1674. He married, 23 June, 1635, in the 
West Church at Edinburgh, Barbara, the daughter of 
Bartholomew Fleming, an Edinburgh merchant. They 
had a number of children, among them Robert, the 
Emigrant. 

XIII Robert Livingston, the son of the Reverend 
John Livingston and Barbara Fleming, was born in 
1654. In 1673 he emigrated to New York, where he 
soon became one of the most eminent citizens. On 9 
July, 1679, he married Alida, daughter of Captain Philip 
Pieterse Schuyler, and widow of the Reverend Nicolaus 
Van Rensselaer. 

Governor Dongan granted Livingston, in 1686, a pat- 
ent for 160,000 acres of land on the Hudson River 
between New York and Albany. This was the famous 
Livingston Manor, which, next to that of the Van Rensse- 
laer family, was the greatest of the vast proprietory 
domains which lay at the foundation of the system of 
government by aristocracy peculiar to the Province of 
New York. 

Livingston held many civic oflBces of importance. He 
was Secretary to the Albany Commissary, Town Clerk, 
Town Collector, Secretary of Indian Affairs, Member of 
the Council, Member of the General Assembly from 1709 
to 1711, and Speaker of the General Assembly in 1718. 

By his wife, Alida Schuyler, he had issue : (1) John, 
Colonel in the Connecticut Militia, who married, first, 
a daughter of Governor Winthrop of Connecticut, second, 
Elizabeth Knight, and died without issue at London in 
1717; (2) Philip, born in 1686, who became one of the 
great merchants of the period, because of his splendid 
hospitality known as "The Princely Livingston,^' and 
was Town Clerk, Secretary of Indian Affairs, and Mem- 
ber of the Council; (3) Robert, who was educated in 
Scotland, studied law at the Temple in London, practised 
in Albany, was a Member of the General Assembly from 



56 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

1711 to 1727, and married Miss Howarden; (4) Gil- 
bert; (5) Margaret, who married Colonel Samuel Vetch, 
the first English Governor of Annapolis; and (6) 
Johanna, who married Cornelius Van Home. 

XIV Gilbert Livingston, the fourth son of Eobert 
Livingston and Alida Schuyler, was admitted as a citizen 
of New York in 1716. He was the County Clerk of 
Ulster County, and from 1728 to 1737 was a Member of 
the General Assembly. Gilbert Livingston's share of the 
Livingston Manor was a large estate near Saratoga. He 
married at Kingston, 22 December, 1711, Cornelia, the 
daughter of Colonel Henry Beekman. In his marriage 
record he is called "of Eoelof Janz Kil," — Eoelof Jan- 
sen's Kill, in Columbia County, New York. 

Their issue was : (1) Eobert Gilbert; (2) Cornelia,* 
who married a member of the Van Eensselaer family; 
(3) Alida,* who married at Kingston, 24 November, 
1737, Jacob Eutsen, Junior; (4) Henry,* who was mar- 
ried; (5) James,* who was married; (6) Gilbert,* who 
married Joy Donell, of Bermuda; (7) John,* who died 
without issue; (8) Joanna, baptized at Kingston, 9 
September, 1722, who married Pierre Van Cortlandt; 
(9) William, who was baptized at Kingston, 23 August, 
1724, and died at Sparta; (10) Philip, baptized at 
Kingston, 26 June, 1726, who died, without issue, at 
Curagoa; (11) Jacobus, who was baptized at Kingston, 
7 April, 1728; (12) Samuel, baptized at Kingston, 1 
February, 1730, who died at sea, leaving no issue; (13) 
Cornelius, baptized at Kingston, 30 April, 1732, who 
died at sea, leaving no issue; (14) Catharine, who was 
baptized at Kingston, 21 July, 1734, and who married 
Jotham Thom; and (15) Margaret, baptized at Kings- 
ton, 23 June, 1738, who married Petrus Stuyvesant. 

XV Eobert Gilbert Livingston, the eldest son of 
Gilbert Livingston, was baptized at Kingston, 11 Janu- 
ary, 1713. He was an officer in the Eoyal Service during 
the Eevolution. His residence, "Green Hill," at Upper 

a ■ i^-j 

*The dates, and, consequently, the order of births are unknown. 



LIVINGSTON" AND MAC PHEADRIS 57 

Red Hook, now Tivoli, Dutchess County, New York, 
later came into the possession of John Swift Livingston, 
whose daughter became the wife of General de Peyster. 
Robert Gilbert Livingston married in New York City, 
at the old Diitch Church, 3 November, 1740, Catharine, 
the daughter of John Mac Pheadris. They had issue: 

( 1 ) Robert, who married Margaret Hude, and had issue ; 

(2) Gilbert, who married Martha Kane, and had issue; 

(3) Helen; (4) Catharine, who married John Reade, 
and had issue; and (5) Henry, who married Ann Nut- 
ter, and had issue. 

XVI Helen Livingston, the daughter of Robert 
Gilbert Livingston and Catharine Mac Pheadris, was 
married to Commissary-General Samuel Hake, claimant 
of the title of Lord Hake, her marriage being celebrated 
in her father's mansion, "Green Hill." 

XVII Helen Hake, wife of Captain Frederic de 
Peyster. 

XVIII Frederic de Peyster. 

XIX General John Watts de Peyster. 

The Livingston Arms : Quarterly : 1st and 4th, 
Argent, three gilly-flowers, gules, within a double tres- 
sure, flory counter-flory, vert (for Livingston) ; 2nd, 
quarterly-quartered, 1st and 4th, Gules, on a chevron, 
argent, a rose, two lions, passant combattant, of the first 
(for Hepburn), 2nd and 3rd, Azure, three martlets, or; 
3rd, Sable, a bend between six billets, or (for Cal- 
lei dar). 

Crest: A demi-Hercules, wreathed about the head 
and middle, in his dexter hand a club in pale, in the 
sinister, a snake, all proper. 

Motto : Si je puis. 

It is said that the Reverend John Livingston, the 
father of Robert, of New York, quartered only the Arms 
of Livingston and Calleudar, using cinque-foils, instead 
of gilly-flowers, in the first and fourth quarters. Above 
the shield he placed Heljrew characters for "Ebenezer." 
Robert Livingston, the first American ancestor of this 
distinguished family, had been in a ship-wreck ojff the 



58 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Portuguese coast, and, in commemoration, substituted 
the figure of a ship in distress for the old crest of a 
demi-Hercules. 

MAC PHEADRIS 

Captain William Mac Pheadris resided at Camglass, 
County Antrim, Ireland, in 1667. One theory of the 
origin of this family is that the name of Mac Feorais was 
adopted by the English family of Bermingham, upon the 
latter's settlement in County Mayo, Ireland. 

Early in the Eighteenth Century three brothers and 
a sister of the name appeared in America. These were, 
Captain Archibald Mac Pheadris of Portsmouth, New 
Hampshire, John Mac Pheadris of New York, Gilbert 
Mac Pheadris, and their sister, who married Eead, and 
had a son, Philip. 

Captain Archibald Mac Pheadris settled in Portsmouth 
as agent of a London iron company. In 1716-1718 he 
built there the famous brick house, afterwards known as 
the Warren house. In 1718 he married Sarah, daughter 
of Lieutenant-Governor Wentworth, and sister of Gov- 
ernor Benning Wentworth. In his will, dated 18 May, 
1728, and proved 24 March, 1729, Captain Mac Pheadris 
made bequests to his children, Gilbert and Mary, to his 
brother, Gilbert, to the two daughters of his brother, 
John, and to his sister's son, Philip Read. 

Gilbert Mac Pheadris, brother of Captain Archibald, 
was drowned in 1735 in the West Indies, while en route 
from the island of St. Kitts to the island of Nevis. He 
was unmarried, and in his will divided his property 
between Mary Mac Pheadris, the daughter of his brother 
Archibald, Susanna Mac Pheadris, "living in New York," 
and Philip Read. Philip Read was the son of his sister, 
while Susanna Mac Pheadris was the daughter of his 
brother, John. 

I John Mac Pheadris, brother of the above Archibald 
and Gilbert Mac Pheadris, and of their sister, who 
married Read, was married in New York City, 12 
December, 1712, to Helen Jansen. She was born in 



LIVINGSTON AND MAC PHEADEIS 59 

1693. He died prior to the Eevolution, having 
become a large landed proprietor of Dutchess County. 
His widow was living in 1776 with her son-in-law, 
Eobert Gilbert Livingston. John Mac Pheadris and 
his wife had issue: (1) Susanna, born 24 September, 
1713, co-heiress of her uncle, Gilbert Mac Pheadris, who, 
against her mother's will, married a man named Myer, 
and had three children; and (2) Catharine. 

II Catharine Mac Pheadris, the daughter and 
co-heiress of John Mac Pheadris and Helen Jansen, was 
married, 3 November, 1744, to Eobert Gilbert Livingston. 

III Helen Livingston, wife of Commissary-General 
Hake. 

IV Helen Hake, wife of Captain Frederic de Peyster. 

V Frederic de Peyster. 

VI General John Watts de Peyster. 



CHAPTER VI 

FRENCH AND PHILIPSE 

I Philip French was perhaps the son of another Philip 
French, since, in the record of the baptism of his son, 
Philip, 7 April, 1695, he is called "Philip French, 
Junior," He was born in 1667 at Kelshall, County 
Suffolk, England, to the poor of which town he bequeathed 
five pounds in his will. He was a merchant in England, 
and continued this career in America. His brother, John 
French, was in command of a merchant vessel, and also 
settled in New York. 

Here Philip French became an influential and wealthy 
man. His residence was on Broad Street, near Exchange 
Place, and here he lived in the luxury of the day, seven 
slaves being included in his household. He had come to 
New York in June, 1689, and soon became involved in 
the political turmoil which gathered about Jacob Leisler. 
Philip French was an adherent of the anti-Leislerites, and 
his opposition to Leisler's administration of the govern- 
ment was so strong that the latter imprisoned Mm. 

On the occasion of a hearing of charges brought 
against Governor Fletcher, made before the Lords of 
Trade, 28 August, 1695, Philip French, called in his 
deposition "Gentleman," made certain statements unfa- 
vorable to the Governor. He had charge of the ferry 
to Brooklyn before 1699, since in that year it is recorded 
as being re-let to him. Speaker of the Assembly in 
1698, he was elected to that body for 1703, but did not 
take his seat, having in October, 1702, been appointed 
Mayor of New York by Lord Cornbury, the Governor. 

French was a Member of the Council. He had joined 
with Colonel Nicholas Bayard in an address to the Eng- 
lish Government in which the Lieutenant-Governor and 
the Chief Justice of the Province were accused of bribery. 

60 



FEEI^CH AND PHILIPSE 61 

For this Bayard was tried for high treason, but French 
had escaped to England. In 1703, the then Governor, 
Cornbury, having shown himself favorable to the anti- 
Leislerian party, French had returned, and was, as noted 
above, appointed Mayor of New York City. In less than 
a year matters of private business took him again to 
England, his government and seals as Mayor being left, 
during his absence, in charge of the Eecorder of the 
City. 

He died in 1707. His will, dated 20 May, 1706, and 
proved 3 June, 1707, gives "to my son, Philip French, 
all my lands in Suffolk County in England ;" "to my three 
daughters, Elizabeth, Anne, and Margaret, all my lands 
and estate in East New Jersey, which I lately purchased 
from Thomas Coddington;" "to the poor of the Parish 
of Kellshall, in England, £5." It mentions also "children 
of my brother, John French;" wife, Ann; Lewis Morris; 
and "my brother-in-law Adolph Phillipse," the last three 
being named as executors. 

Philip French married Anna, daughter of Frederick 
Philipse, at the Dutch Church in New York, 6 July, 
1694. In the record he is styled, "Mr. Philip French, 
j. m. Van London." They had issue: (1) Philip, who 
was baptized 7 April, 1695, at the Dutch Church in 
New York, and who probably died young; (2) Philip, 
called in the record, "Philippus," who was baptized 17 
November, 1697, in the Dutch Church of New York, and 
was a legatee in his father's will; (3) Elizabeth, who was 
baptized at the Dutch Church of New York, 14 February, 
1700-1701; (4) Margaret, called in the record "Mar- 
greta," who was baptized at the Dutch Church of New 
York, 4 May, 1701; and (5) Anne. 

II Anne French, the daughter of Philip French and 
Anna Philipse, married the Honorable Joseph Eeade, 
Member of the King's Council. 

III Sarah Eeade, wife of James de Peyster, 

IV Captain Frederic de Peyster. 

V Frederic de Peyster. 

VI General John Watts de Peyster, 



63 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

PHILIPSE 

I Philip, as his son's name indicates, was the father 
of the first Lord of Philipse Manor. Of his history there 
is nothing authentically known. It has been alleged that 
the family originated in Bohemia, and that, during the 
religious wars of the sixteenth century, some of its 
members emigrated to Holland. One tradition states 
that the mother of Frederick Philipse, the first Lord 
of the Manor, removed as a widow to Friesland, with her 
son, Frederick, and other children. Her name is said 
to have been Eva, and that of one of the other children, 
Adolphus. 

II Frederick Philipse, or "Frederick, the son of 
Philip," was born in 1626. His birth-place was Bols- 
waert, a town of Friesland, as appears from his marriage 
record in the old Dutch Church of New Amsterdam. The 
exact date of his coming to New York is unknown. Some 
have thought it was in 1647, and that he came in com- 
pany with Stuyvesant. He was in New Amsterdam in 
1653, when he was appraiser of a house and lot belonging 
to Augustine Hermans. 9 February, 1658, Stuyvesant 
granted him land in New Amsterdam, which waa 
confirmed to him 12 April, 1667. 

He rose to be the most opulent of the New York 
grandees of his day. He had learned the trade of 
carpentry, but soon was absorbed in mercantile pursuits, 
and presently took rank as the foremost trader of the 
Colony. He traded with the Indians, with the East and 
"West Indies, and engaged in the slave trade with Africa. 
His estate in 1674, at the re-conquest of the Province by 
the Dutch, was assessed at eighty thousand guilders. 
While that meant a considerable fortune at the time, 
it was small in comparison with his later wealth. He 
eventually became the richest man in the Thirteen 
Colonies. 

In 1680 Frederick Philipse commenced to buy from 
the Indians the vast properties which were to become the 
Manor of Philipsburgh. His first purchase was ratified 



FRENCH AND PHILIPSE 63 

and confirmed by Governor Andros 1 April, 1680. Con- 
firmation of all his land holdings was given him 23 
December, 1684, by Governor Dongan, and, in 1693, his 
princely estate in Westchester County, New York, was 
erected into a Manor, of which he was the first Lord. 

He was a Member of the Council under all the English 
Governors, from Andros to Bellomont, — a period of 
twenty years, — except during the rule of Leisler. When 
the latter was chosen by the people and captains of the 
Train Bands of New York to administer the government, 
Frederick Philipse and De Heer Stephanus Van Cort- 
landt, who were Members of the Council, regarded this 
as an usurpation, holding that the abandonment of the 
colony by Lieutenant-Governor Nicholson had left them 
in charge of affairs. Philipse, however, soon accepted 
the inevitable, and acknowledged the rule of Leisler. In 
1698 he resigned his seat in Bellomont's Council, and 
retired from public life. 

He died 6 November, 1703, the record by his wife in 
the family Bible being as follows : "Anno 1702, the 6th 
of November, Sunday night at 10 o'clock, my husband, 
Frederick Philipse died, and lies buried in the church 
yard in the manor named Philipsburgh." 

In his will, made 26 October, 1700, and probated 9 
December, 1702, Frederick Philipse mentions "Frederick 
Flipse, my grandson, born in Barbadoes, ye only son of 
Philip, my eldest son, late deceased," and "my son, 
Adolphus Flypse," and says: "I leave to my eldest 
daughter Eva, wife of Jacobus Van Cortlandt, all that 
house and ground with the appurtenances in ye city of 
New York where they at present live, with all rights. 
Also a lot of ground in ye New street, at the south of 
the old ware house. And one quarter of all ships, plate 
goods, etc., to her during her life, and then to her second 
son. Also a certain mortgage of Dr. Henricus Selinus, 
upon ye lands of Jolm Richbell, deceased, twenty miles 
into ye woods, but not to extend over Bronx Eiver into 
any lands given to my grandson. I give to my daughter 
Anatje, wife of Phillip French, the house and ground in 



64 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

New York where they at present live. Also the old 
ware house and ground thereto helonging lying in New 
Street/' etc. 

Frederick Philipse married, 28 October, 1662, Margaret 
Hardenbroeck, the widow of Pieter Rudolphus de Vries. 
The date of her death is unknown, but, 30 November, 
1692, he married Catharine Van Cortlandt, the daughter 
of Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt, and the widow 
of Colonel Jan der Vail. 

By his second marriage Frederick Philipse had no 
issue. By his marriage with Margaret Hardenbroeck he 
had the following issue: (1) Philip, baptized at the 
Dutch Church in New Amsterdam, 18 October, 1663, 
who resided in the Barbadoes, and who married Maria, 
daughter of Governor Sparks, dying before his father; 

(2) Adolphus, baptized in the Dutch Church of New 
York, 15 November, 1665, who died, unmarried, in 1749 ; 

(3) Annetje; (4) Eombout, baptized 9 January, 1670- 
1671, in the Dutch Church of New York, who probably 
died young, as he is not mentioned in his father's will. 

III Annetje Philipse, the daughter of Frederick 
Philipse and Margaret Hardenbroeck, was baptized in 
the Dutch Church of New York, 27 November, 1667. 
She was married to Philip French, 6 July, 1694, in 
the Dutch Church. 

IV Anne French, wife of the Honorable Joseph Eeade. 

V Sarah Reade, wife of James de Peyster. 

VI Captain Frederic de Peyster. 

VII Frederic de Peyster. 

VIII General Jolm Watts de Peyster. 

The Philipse Arms: Azure, a lion rampant, or. 
Crest: Out of a ducal coronet, a demi-lion. 
Motto : Quod tibi vis fieri facias. 



CHAPTEE VII 

BEEKMAN 

I Gerard Beekman was born at Cologne, 17 May, 1558. 
He studied theology at Frenkendael, near Heidelberg, 
from 1576 to 1578. He was one of two delegates chosen 
to visit the Duke of New-Berg, the Elector of Branden- 
burg, and James I. of England, to solicit aid for German 
Protestants. He removed from Cologne, to place himself 
under the protection of the Landgrave of Nassau. Later, 
he became Auditor and Secretary of the Electoral 
Chamber at Cleves, in the service of the Elector of 
Brandenburg. He died at Emeric, 31 January, 1635. 

His wife was Agnes Stuning, whom he married at 
Cleves. She was born 13 January, 1557, and died at 
Mulheim, 10 March, 1614. They had issue: (1) 
Hendriek; (2) Harman, second son, who died in London, 
in 1654, was Secretary to the Prince of Transylvania in 
Swenbergen, visited Constantinople, and was appointed, 
in 1634, Lieutenant-Colonel in the army of the Prince 
of Muscovy; (3) Johan, who died 13 September, 1635, 
having been a preacher at Mourick and Lower Betowe; 
(4) Catharine, who died in 1624; and (5) Magaretha, 
who married CJnoetz, a preacher at Wezel. 

II Hendriek Beekman, eldest son of Gerard Beekman 
and Agnes Stuning, was born at Cologne, 14 September, 
1585. He settled at Berge, where he became a land and 
mill owner. Later he went to Zutphen. He was 
appointed Secretary of the city of Hasselden, Overyssel. 
In 1639 the States-General made him Superintendent 
of the Magazines in the cities of Hasselt and Wezel. He 
died at Wezel, probably about 1654. 

Hendriek Beekman was three times married. His first 
wife was Geertryd Gomensbagh, whom he married 15 
April, 1613. She died 10 September, 1619. He married, 

6.5 



66 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

second, 2-i January, 1631, Mary, the daughter of Wil- 
helmus Baudertius, a minister at Zutphen, Guelderland, 
who made a translation of tiie Bible into Dutch. She 
died at Berge, 17 September, 1630. Hendrick Beekman 
married, third, Alida Ottenbeeks, who was born at 
Cologne, 8 December, 1605. By his third marriage 
he had no children. 

His issue by his first and second marriages was : Four 
children by the first marriage; (5) Gerard, born in 
Zutphen, 20 February, 1632, died in 1678, married 
Joanna Plantius, and was a preacher in Grofhuysen and 
Avenhoorn in jSTorth Holland; (6) William; (7) Martin, 
born at Hasselt, Overyssel, 35 August, 1634, married 
Maria de Bois at The Hague, 3 August, 1650, was a 
Notary and Procureur, and is said to have been i)irector 
of certain branches of Holland's Eastern trade, under 
the Dutch Government, and to have served also under 
the Dutch West India Company; (8) John, born at 
Hasselt, 26 November, 1686, died 15 January, 1684, 
married, first, Arnolda Brouwers, and, second, Catharine 
Van Eysoort, and was Agent to the Council of Appoint- 
ment and Supreme Military Council; (9) Andrew, who 
died, unmarried, in 1663; (10) Alida, who married 
Leonard Ninnix; and (11) Maria, who married, first, 
William Harris, and, second, Sas. 

Ill William Beekman, son of Hendrick Beekman and 
Mary Baudertius, was born at Statselt, Overyssel, 38 
April, 1623. In 1647 he came to New Amsterdam in 
company with Stuyvesant, on the ship, "Princess." He 
was soon one of the most conspicuous figures in the 
Colony. He received by patent, 20 June, 1655, a tract 
of land beyond the Kalck Hoek, or Collect. Difficulties 
arose about the right of way through this land for cattle 
pastured on the Commons. This cattle-path was probably 
the origin of Beekman Street, which did not become a 
street until 1734. William Street, in New York, also 
received its name from William Beekman. 

On 28 October, 1658, Beekman was appointed Vice- 
Oovernor of the Dutch Colony on the Delaware. On 5 



BEEKMAN 67 

January, 1663-4 he resigned this post, and, on 4 July, 
1664, received the appointment of "Schout," or Sheriff, 
of Esopus. "Hon. Heer Willem Beeckman, Schout," 
took the inventory of Jacob Kip in 1665. He became 
Burgomaster of New York 16 August, 1674, and was 
Alderman of the city 1678-1683, 1685, 1691-1696. When 
Andros, the Governor, arrived in 1674, William Beekman 
was one of a committee of three to go on board "The 
Diamond," to welcome the Governor, and ask for certain 
favors for the Dutch in New York. 

The following year, 1675, he signed a petition to 
Andros for exemption from taking the required uncondi- 
tional oath of allegiance to Charles II., and to be allowed 
to dispose of estates outside the Province of New York. 
For this, he with the other signers, — all men of 
prominence, — was arrested. They were released on bail, 
and, later, having taken the oath, were acquitted. In 
1683, when Thomas Dongan became Governor, Beekman 
was Mayor of New York, and was one of those appointed 
to survey Fort James. On 9 November, 1683, he signed 
a petition to Governor Dongan asking that certain 
privileges, granted to New York City in 1665, should be 
confirmed by a charter of the Duke of York. In 1692, 
when Governor Fletcher arrived in New York, William 
Beekman was a member of the Common Council. He 
died in 1707. 

He married, 5 September 1649, Catalina de Boots, or 
de Boogh, the daughter of Captain Frederick de Boogh. 
They had issue: (1) Marie, who was baptized in the 
Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, 26 January, 1650- 
1651; (2) Hendrick; (3) Gerardus, who was baptized 
in the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, 17 August, 
1653; (4) Cornelia, who was baptized in the Dutch 
Church of New Amsterdam, 11 April, 1655; (5) 
Johannes, who was baptized in the Dutch Church of 
New Amsterdam, 22 November, 1656; (6) Jacobus, who 
was baptized in the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, 
21 August, 1658; (7) Wilhelmus, who was baptized at 
Kingston, 20 July, 1664, being then three years old; (8) 



68 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Martinus, who was baptized at Kingston, 19 July, 1665 ; 
and (9) Caterina, who was baptized at Kingston, 25 
March, 1666. 

IV Colonel Hendrick Beekman, eldest son of De 
Heer William Beekman and Catalina de Boots, was 
baptized in the Dutch Church of New Amsterdam, 3 
March, 1652. He held the military rank of Captain 3 
March, 1685-6, when he was Justice of the Court of 
Sessions for Ulster County. For many years he was a 
prominent Magistrate of Ulster County, named as Justice 
of the Peace, 30 March, 1692; "Judge of ye Court of 
Common Pleas," 26 March, 1696; Judge of Court of 
Common Pleas, 20 September, 1703; Judge, 6 March, 
1711-12, 12 April, 1712, and 3 September, 1713. He 
became a Colonel some time before 7 February, 1695-6, 
when, as "Coll Henrieus Beekman" he was made a 
guardian to the children of Gerritse Cornells of Hurly. 
He was a Member of the Legislature, an extensive land- 
owner, and one of the most eminent citizens of Ulster 
County. 

Colonel Beekman died in 1716. He married, 5 June, 
1681, in the Dutch Church of New York, Johanna 
Lopers, of New York, the widow of George Davits of 
Albany. Her first marriage took plaoe in New York, 13 
November, 1674, and by it she had three sons. Jacobus, 
Samuel, and Salomon. Shortly before her marriage to 
Colonel Beekman she provided for these children's future, 
a portion of the document reading as follows : "Johanna, 
widow of the deceased George Davits, intends to enter 
the married state with Hendricus Beecqman, young man, 
therefore the said bride, Johanna Lopers, grants to her 
children with said Davits, named Jacobus, Samuel, and 
Salomon * * * As guardian over said children she 
appoints their uncle, David Davits, and Dirck Jansen 
Schepmoes." 

Colonel Beekman and Johanna Lopers had issue: (1) 
Wilhelmus, who was baptized at Kingston, 9 April, 1682, 
and died as a young man in Holland; (2) Catharina, 
baptized at Kingston, 16 September, 1683, who married. 



BEEKMAN 69 

first, John Eutsen, and, second, Albert Pawling; (3) 
Cornelia; and (4) Colonel Henry, who was baptized at 
Kingston, 8 January, 1688, died 3 January, 1776, 
married, first, Janet Livingston, second, Gertrude Van 
Cortlandt, and was a Member of the Assembly and a 
Judge. 

V Cornelia Beekman, daughter of Colonel Hendrick 
Beekman and Johanna Lopers, was baptized at Kingston, 
15 August, 1693. She was married at Kingston, 23 
December, 1711, to Gilbert Livingston. 

VI Eobert Gilbert Livingston. 

VII Helen Livingston, wife of Commissary-General 
Samuel Hake. 

VIII Helen Hake, wife of Captain Frederic de 
Peyster. 

IX Frederic de Peyster. 

X General John Watts de Peyster. 

The Beekman Arms: Azure, a running brook, in 
bend, wavy, argent, between two roses, or. 
Crest: Two wings, addorsed. 
Motto: Mens conscia recti. 



CHAPTER VIII 

NICOLL 

I The first authentically known ancestor of this 
family is John Nicholls, Gentleman, of Islip, Northamp- 
tonshire, England, who was living in 1464. He was 
buried in the Church of Islip. 

II Henry Nicholls, Gentleman, of Islip, was the son 
of John Nicholls. 

III John Nicholls, Gentleman, of Islip, was the son 
of Henry Nicholls. 

IV William Nicholls, Gentleman, the son of John 
Nicholls, of Islip, was of Willen, in Buckinghamshire. 
He married, first, Mary, the daughter of Langedeway, 
and, second, Mary, the daughter of Lawrence Woodhall, 
Gentleman, of Buckinghamshire. He had issue: (1) 
Elizabeth, a child of the first marriage, who became 
the wife of Henry Charge of Wavendon, Buckingham- 
shire; (2) Eoger, a child by the first marriage, who 
married Susanna, the daughter of George "White; and 
(3) John. 

V John Nicholls, of Clifford's Inn, son of William 
Nicholls and the latter's second wife, Mary Woodhall, 
was a resident of the town of Buckingham, in the shire 
of that name. He was also of Ampthill, in Bedfordshire. 
He married Jane, the daughter and heiress of John 
Grafton, Gentleman, of London. They had issue: (1) 
Matthias; (2) John Nicholls, Gentleman, of Clifford's 
Inn, London; (3) William; (4) Ferdinand, of Magdalen 
College, Oxford, in 1619; (5) Elizabeth, who was the 
wife of Thomas Hall, Bachelor and Professor of 
Theology; and (6) Catharine. 

VI Matthias Nicholls, or Nicolls, eldest son of John 
Nicholls and Jane Grafton, was a Bachelor of Law and 
Theology at New College, Oxford. He was of Ampthill, 

70 



NICOLL n 

Bedfordshire, and was "preacher to the town of 
Plymouth." 

VII Matthias Nicolls, or Nicoll, son of the Reverend 
Matthias Nicolls, of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, the "preacher 
to the town of Plymouth," came to this country with 
Colonel Richard Nicolls, the first English Governor of 
New York, who is thought to have been his kinsman. 
Matthias Nicolls served as secretary of the commission 
appointed to treat with the Dutch at the surrender of 
New Amsterdam, and Governor Nicolls appointed him 
Secretary of the Province of New York, and a Member 
of the Governor's Council. He held the military rank of 
Captain. By virtue of his office as Provincial Secretary, 
he was also Clerk of the Court, and his legal career is 
one of the most important of colonial times. In England 
he had been a barrister of Lincoln's Inn, and here he 
was Presiding-Justice of the Court of Assizes, sat in 
the inferior Courts of Session, was the first Judge of 
the Court of Common Pleas in New York City, and 
became Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1672 he was 
appointed Mayor of New York. 

Judge Nicoll was a Deputy to the famous Convention 
at Hempstead, Long Island, in 1664-65, and is considered 
the virtual author of ihe code adopted, known as "The 
Duke's Laws," which, in spite of many modifications and 
changes, is the basis of our present law. The absence of 
the principle of election of officials, for which was sub- 
stituted that of royal or gubernatorial appointment, 
should not blind us to the merits of this code, in whose 
compilation the laws of England, the Dutch law, — derived 
largely from the Roman codes, — and the various charters 
of New England were sources. 

While we, as Americans, consider that popular election 
is an essential of political liberty, we should remember 
that the codes of the very colonies which, better provided 
for representative government, protested against the 
Duke's Laws, had no provision for religious toleration. 
One of the enactments of the Hempstead Convention 
decreed religious liberty. Matthias Nicoll's influence in 



73 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

this Convention, if only because of this wise and Christian 
law, reflects much honor on his sense of justice as well 
as on his legal abilities, as does also his connection 
with the General Assembly held under Thomas Dongan's 
Governorship, whose first session began 17 October, 1683. 
Nicoll, sent as a Representative from New York City, 
was elected Speaker, as he was also oi the second session 
of this Assembly, which began in October, 1684. This 
body guaranteed religious freedom to all Christians, — 
a measure of civilization then practically unknown in 
many of the American Colonies. 

Matthias Nicoll was an extensive land-owner, having a 
large estate, called "Plandome," consisting of about 
two thousand acres, at Little Neck and Great Neck, Long 
Island. He died 22 December, 1687. He had married 
in England, and had issue: (1) William; and (2) 
Margaret, born in 1662, who married Colonel Richard 
Floyd, Junior, of Suffolk County, Long Island. 

VIII William Nicoll, son of Judge Matthias Nicoll, 
was born in England in 1657. He was a lawyer, like 
his father, and probably received his legal education 
from Judge Nicoll. In 1683 he was appointed Clerk of 
Queens County. In 1688, removing to New York City, 
he soon rose to eminence as a brilliant lawyer and man 
of affairs. He was strongly opposed to Leisler, and 
fought against the latter's rise to power. When Leisler 
gained possession of the government, in 1688, he sent 
Nicoll to prison, where he remained until March, 1691, 
when the arrival of Governor Sloughter put an end to 
Leisler's authority. The new Governor gave Nicoll a 
place in his Council. He retained the oflBce of Councillor 
until 1698, when Lord Bellomont suspended him, as he 
did a number of the other Councillors, at the time of 
the Governor's difficulties with the merchants and traders 
over the question of the commerce of New York vessels 
with pirates. 

Nicoll was a man of great energy, untiring in his 
efforts to bring those measures to success which he consid- 
ered wise or expedient, or to defeat the plans of his 



NICOLL 73 

political opponents. He carried this persistency so far 
as to lend his influence to the execution of Leisler, a 
measure which was bitterly condemned by the lovers of 
representative government in that day, as it was by the 
English Parliament which investigated the Leisler 
trouble, and as it has been since by nearly all who have 
carefully studied the historical documents. 

In 1695 Nicoll was sent by the Assembly as its sole 
agent to the King to petition that the other colonies 
should share in the defence of the borders against the 
French. In 1701, elected to the Assembly, he was 
disqualified as a non-resident of Suffolk County, but was 
re-elected in 1703, and made Speaker. The latter office 
he held until his resignation in 1718, remaining, however, 
a Member after that date. 

His most important legal suits were as counsel for 
the defence in the trial of Colonel Nicholas Bayard and 
Alderman Jolin Hutchins for high treason, in 1702, and 
at the trial of the Eeverend Francis Makemie, a Presby- 
terian minister of Virginia, whom Lord Cornbury, the 
Governor, had imprisoned for preaching in New York 
without sficnring the latter's permission. The trial of 
Bayard and Hutchins was in connection with accusations 
against the administration of Lord Bellomont, made 
upon news of the appointment of Lord Cornbury as 
Governor, It was really an outgrowth of the old Leis- 
lerian troubles, and Nicoll, with James Emott, his 
associate in the defence, lost the case. In the charge 
against Mr. Makemie he was more successful, his efforts 
resulting in an acquittal for his client. 

William Nicoll received in 1697 a royal Patent for an 
estate which, in 1683, he had bought from the Indians, 
and which was located on Great South Bay, in Suffolk 
County, Long Island. Here he built a mansion, which 
he named Islip Grange, after the home of his ancestors 
in England. He died in May, 1723. His will was 
made 17 March, 1718-19, and was proved 27 August, 
1723. Therein he is called, "William Nicoll, of Islip, 
in the County of Suffolk," and mention is made of his 



74 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

son, Benjamin Nicoll; son, William Nicoll; son, Rensse- 
laer Nicoll; daughter, Mary Piatt; daughter, Frances 
Nicoll; daughter, Charity Nicoll; son, Edward Nicoll; 
and son, John Nicoll. The last two are said to be 
minors, and their mother is mentioned as living. 

"To my son Rensselaer all my live stock in the Manor 
of Rensselaerwyck," runs the will, and to "my son, 
Rensselaer Nicoll, all those lands and farms on Shelter 
Island, now in occupation of John Shaw * * * But 
when my son Benjamin shall assign to his brother 
Rensselaer all those lands in the County of Alban]^ which 
were his mother's, and which I now possess in her right, 
then the above bequest to my son Rensselaer is to deter- 
mine and be void, and the said lands on Shelter Island 
shall devolve to my son Benjamin." William Nicoll had 
married, about 1688, Anna, the daughter of Colonel 
Jeremias Van Rensselaer, Director of Rensselaerwyck, 
and widow of her cousin, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, third 
Patroon of Rensselaerwyck. She pre-deceased her hus- 
band, who married a second time. 

He had issue: (1) Mary; (2) Henry, who was 
baptized in the Dutch Church at New York, 5 April, 
1691, and who probably died young, as he is not 
mentioned in his father's will; (3) John, who was 
baptized at the Dutch Church, 8 May, 1692, and who 
probably died young, as the John mentioned in William 
Nicoll's will was a minor in 1718-19; (4) Jeremias, bap- 
tized 7 July, 1695, in the Dutch Church, and who 
probably died young, as he is not mentioned in his 
father's will; (5) Benjamin, named in his father's will, 
who married a daughter of Colonel Floyd; (6) William, 
born in 1702, died in 1768, unmarried, a successful 
lawyer, who was a Member of the Assembly for twenty- 
nine years, from 1739 until his death, for the last nine 
years of his life being Speaker; (7) Rensselaer, who, 
mentioned in the will of his uncle, Kiliaen Van Rensse- 
laer, in 1718, as "the youngest son of my sister Anne 
Nicoll," was a legatee of that uncle and of his father, 
as shown above, married, and left issue; (8) Catharine, 



NICOLt 75 

or Charity, as she is called in the abstract we have given 
from the will of her father, who married a Mr. Havans, 
of Shelter Island, and left issue; (9) Frances, who 
married Edward Holland; (10) Edward, a child by 
William Nicoll's second marriage, mentioned as under 
age in the latter's will; and (11) John, a child by the 
second marriage, and also a minor at the date of his 
father's will. 

IX Mary Nicoll, daughter of William Nicoll and 
Anna Van Eensselaer, was baptized in the Dutch Church 
of New York, 6 October, 1689. In 1706 she was married 
to Eobert Watts. It is evident that the "daughter, Mary 
Piatt," mentioned in William Nicoll's will, is so-called 
through error either of the transcriber or printer of this 
abstract, for Mary Nicoll, at the time this will was made, 
had been for many years the wife of Robert Watts, and 
the latter lived until 1750. 

X The Honorable John Watts, Senior. 

XI The Honorable John Watts, Junior. 

XII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de 
Peyster. 

XIII General John Watts de Peyster. 

The Nicoll Arms: Argent, six cross crosslets, fitche, 
or, on a bend, engrailed, cotised, or, three eaglets, argent. 

Crest: A falcon, wings displayed, or, supporting in 
her right foot a cross crosslet, patee, fitche, sable. 

Motto: Fide sed cui vide. 

These Arms, designated as those of Nicholls, of Amp- 
thill, were confirmed by William Saeger, Norroy King 
of Arms, in 1603. 



CHAPTER IX 

VAN RENSSELAER 

The Van Eensselaer family, whose stately history is 
one of the most interesting of the Dutch colonial period, 
derived its name from a manor in its possession, near 
ISTykerk, in Gelderland, the Netherlands. This estate 
was originally one of those whose ownership conferred 
nobility, but in modern times has become a farm. It 
has been said that not many years ago its peasant owner 
destroyed the ancient gables and weather-vanes, which 
bore the Van Eensselaer arms. The family owned also 
an estate near Naarden, on the Zuyder Zee, a short dis- 
tance from Amsterdam. The Van Eensselaer arms, 
sometimes quartered with others, remain on numerous 
old houses and tombstones in the neighborhood of the 
localities where the family lived. 

I "Wolter Van Eensselaer is the first known ancestor. 

II Hendrick Wolters Van Eensselaer, son of Wolter 
Van Eensselaer, as is shown by his name, married Swene 
Van Imyck, of Hemegseet. They had issue: (1) 
Johannes Hendrick; (2) Geesje, who married the Advo- 
cate Swaaskens; (3) Walter Hendrick, who died without 
issue; (4) Anna, who married Bygriup; and (5) Betje, 
who married Noggyen. 

III Johannes Hendrick Van Eensselaer, son of Hen- 
drick Wolters Van Eensselaer and Swene Van Imyck, 
married Derykebia Van Lupoel. They had issue: (1) 
Kiliaen; and (2) Walter Yans. 

IV Kiliaen Van Eensselaer, son of Johannes Van 
Eensselaer and Derykebia Van Lupoel, married Nelle 
Van Vrenokum, and had issue: (1) Hendrick; (2) 
Engel, who married Lieutenant Gerrit William Van 
Patten; (3) Claes, who married Jacobina Schrassens; 
and (4) Johannes, who married Sandrina Van Erp, 
styled Waerdenburgh. 

76 



VAN EENSSELAEE 77 

V Hendrick Van Eensselaer, son of Kiliaen Van 
Kensselaer and Nelle Van Vrenokum, married Maria 
Pasraat, and had issue: (1) Kiliaen; (2) Maria, who 
married Ej^kert Van Twiller. 

VI Kiliaen Van Eensselaer, son of Hendrick Van 
Eensselaer and Maria Pasraat, was the first Patroon 
of Eensselaerwyek. One of the great merchant princes 
of Holland, dealing in precious stones and other wares, 
and a banker, from its inception he was one of the Lord- 
Directors of the all-powerful West India Company. 
Through his connection with that organization he 
acquired his vast estates in the New Netherlands, which 
really constituted a principality, owing fealty only to 
the States-General of Holland and the West India 
Company, and thus similar in character to the princely 
fiefs of the Middle Ages. 

In 1639 the charter for Patroons, called "Freedoms 
and Exemptions," was adopted. Acting under this, in 
April, 1630, Van Eensselaer's agents purchased for him 
from the Indians a tract of land west of the Hudson Eiver 
and south of the mouth of the Mohawk, twenty -four miles 
by twenty-four miles, and one on the east side of the Hud- 
son, twenty-four miles in length. A patent for this terri- 
tory was issued 13 August, 1630. Another tract, purchased 
in 1637, made the entire estate forty-eight by twenty- 
four miles, including seven hundred thousand acres of 
tillable land. More land, however, was added from time 
to time, as is shown by Indian deeds dating from 1630 
to 1727. 

Kiliaen Van Eensselaer had a map made in 1630, in 
which the northern and southern boundaries are exhib- 
ited practically as they were defined in more recent 
documents, with the river and an indefinite strip of land 
on each side. This curious map, made on parchment, 
is one of the most ancient documents regarding Eensse- 
laerwyek. There is in the New York Historical Society 
a printed grant, made in 1630, in which certain privileges 
were conveyed by the West India Company to Eensse- 
laerwyek. 



78 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

The first colonists arrived in May, 1630. They built 
a settlement near Fort Orange, and named it Beverwyck. 
This is the site of the present Albany, Van Rensselaer 
had entered into a partnership with certain other Direct- 
ors of the West India Company, in relation to his 
colony, but this did not affect his rights and powers as 
Patroon. These were essentially those of a great feudal 
baron of the Middle Ages. Rensselaerwyck had its own 
court, and was exempt from the jurisdiction of the gov- 
ernment at New Amsterdam, though this freedom was, 
of course, frequently disputed by the authorities there. 

Each year the first Patroon sent out new colonists 
Bince, according to his charter, his right to acquire new 
lands depended upon his energy in populating them. 
Careful, well-planned organization marked the colony. 
The colonists, even before leaving Holland, were assigned 
to definite lands and offices in the new settlement. On 
their arrival they were enabled, without delay, to take 
up their places and their work, thus fitting, without 
friction and confusion, into an orderly system of colonial 
life. 

Kiliaen Van Rensselaer married twice. His first wife 
was Hildegonda Van Byler ; his second, whom he married 
in 1627, was Anna Van Wely, of Amsterdam. She was 
the daughter of Jan Van Wely, the younger, of Barne- 
veldt, who was a resident of The Hague, and of Leonora 
Haukens, of Antwerp. Jan Van Wely was a jewel 
merchant, and it is possible that Kiliaen Van Rensselaer 
was associated in business with his father-in-law. 

The first Patroon of Rensselaerw3Tk never visited his 
American possessions. He died in 1646. He had issue: 
(1) Johannes, of whom an account follows; (2) Maria, 
who died without issue in Holland; (3) Hillegonda, 
who died without issue in Holland; (4) Eleonora; (5) 
Susanna, who married Jan de la Court, in Holland; (6) 
Jan Baptist, Director of Rensselaerwyck, who married in 
Holland Susanna Van Wely, and had issue: (7) Rev- 
erend Nicolaus, who married Alida Schuyler; (8) Rikert, 
Treasurer and Stadtholder of the Estates on the north 



VAN EENSSELAER 79 

of Vianen, who married Anna Van Beaumont, in Hol- 
land; and (9) Jeremias. 

Johannes, son of the first Patroon of Rensselaerwyck 
by the latter's first marriage, was invested with the title 
and rights of Patroon, as his father's successor, by Act 
of the States-General in 1650. He never, however, 
visited his domain. He married Elizabeth Van Twiller, 
and had a daughter, and a son, Kiliaen Van Eensselaer, 
the third Patroon, whose history appears below. 

VII Colonel Jeremias Van Rensselaer, son of Kiliaen 
Van Rensselaer, first Patroon of Rensselaerwyck, and 
Anna Van Wely, was born in Amsterdam. He came 
from Holland to New Netherland in 1658, to succeed his 
brother, Jan Baptist, as Director-General of Rensselaer- 
wyck, and remained in control of the barony until his 
death. When the English threatened New Amsterdam, 
Stuyvesant invited him to preside over the Convention 
for providing means of defence. An able, moderate, and 
popular executive of Rensselaerwyck, he was completely 
successful in winning and holding the friendship of the 
Indians. He married, 27 April, 1662, Marritje, the 
daugliter of Captain Olof Stevense Van Cortlandt, the 
record on the book of the old Dutch church of New 
Amsterdam reading: "Jeremias Van Rensselaer, j. m. 
Van Amsterdam, en Marritje Cortlant, j. d. Van 
Amsterdam." 

Colonel Van Rensselaer's will was made 10 October, 
1674, and he died on the fourteenth of that month. His 
widow was appointed, in 1675, Treasurer of Rensselaer- 
wyck, her brother, De Heer Stephanus Van Cortlandt, 
being Bookkeeper, and her brother-in-law, the Reverend 
Nicolaus Van Rensselaer, the Director. The latter's 
death, in November, 1678, left Lady Van Rensselaer in 
charge of the barony, a responsibility which indicates 
her possession of unusual powers of administration. 
She died 24 January, 1688-9. 

Colonel Jeremias Van Rensselaer and Marritje Van 
Cortlandt had issue: (1) Kiliaen, born 24 August, 
1663, in whose will, dated 11 June, 1718, with a codicil 



80 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

made 4 September, 1719, and proved 10 May, 1720, 
wherein he is called "Killian Van Eensselaer, of the 
manor of Kensselaerwyck, Gentleman," is the following. 
"I leave to Eensselaer Nicoll, the youngest son of my 
sister, Anne Nicoll, all that farm at Bethlehem;" (2) 
Anna; (3) Hendrick, born 23 October, 1667, a resident 
of Greenbnsh, New York, who married, in 1689, Cath- 
arine Van Bruggen, who was baptized 19 April, 1665 ; 
(4) Johannes, who was born in 1670; and (5) Maria, 
born 25 October, 1672, who married Peter Schuyler. 

VIII Anna Van Eensselaer, daughter of Colonel 
Jeremias Van Eensselaer and Marritje Van Cortlandt, 
was born 1 August, 1665. She married, first, her cousin, 
Kiliaen Van Eensselaer, the son and heir of Johannes, 
second Patroon, and, therefore, the third Patroon of 
Eensselaerwyck. 

He had come to New York from the Netherlands, 
and had been naturalized under the English gov- 
ernment. He and his cousin, Kiliaen, the son of 
Colonel Jeremias Van Eensselaer, were jointly consti- 
tuted the two first Lords of the Manor of Eensselaer- 
wyck, when, by the Patent of Governor Thomas Dongan, 
4 November, 1685, the Colony of Eensselaerwyck was 
converted into a Manor, the town and fort of Albany 
being omitted from the grant. 

At the time of the English conquest of New Nether- 
land, Governor Eichard Nichols had granted to Jeremias 
Van Eensselaer, 18 October, 1664, "all the privileges 
and authority * * * * he did enjoy and execute before 
the surrender of New York." On 8 May, 1666, King 
Charles II. directed Governor Nichols to grant a Patent 
to Jeremias Van Eensselaer to confirm him in "the 
privileges and authority," as they had been granted him 
two years before. In Governor Dongan's Patent of 1685 
"the Lordship and Manor of Eensselaerwyck" was 
granted to "Killian Van Eensselaer, the son of Johannes 
Van Eensselaer and Killian Van Eensselaer, the son of 
Jeremias Van Eensselaer, their heirs and assigns 
forever," as "one Lordship and Mannour." 



VAN EENSSELAEE 81 

Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, the son of Johannes, died 23 
February, 1687, leaving no issue, his wife, Anna Van 
Eensselaer, being the sole executrix of his estate. His 
will, made on the day of his death, and proved 7 June, 
1687, in which he is styled "of Watervliet, Patroon of 
the Lordship and Manor of Eensselaerwyck," mentions 
his wife, Anna; cousins, Hendrick, son of his uncle, 
Jeremiah Van Eensselaer, the children of Jeremy, son 
of John Baptist Van Eensselaer, and of Dominie 
Johannes Carlinnias; sister, Nelle Maria; and aunt, 
Petronella Van Twiller. It refers to the Manor, to land 
in Gelderland and at Clein, Overhoorst, District of 
Barnvelt, in the Hospell van Voorthuysen, and to a 
house and lot at ISTewkerk. 

Up to 1695 the estate was not divided among the 
Van Eensselaer heirs. In that year Kiliaen, the son 
of Jan Baptist Van Eensselaer, came over from Holland 
to effect a settlement with the New York heirs, the 
children of Jeremias Van Eensselaer. On 1 November, 
1695, a document was signed by which the heirs in 
Holland released to those in the Province of New York 
their rights in the Manor of Eensselaerwyck, in exchange 
for a release of all rights in the family properties 
in Holland. Eensselaerwyck thus passed to the children 
of Jeremias Van Eensselaer. Besides the Manor they 
owned sixty-two thousand acres, known as the Claverack, 
or Lower, Manor. On 20 May, ]704, Kiliaen, the eldest 
son of Jeremias Van Eensselaer, obtained a Patent for 
all this land. His brother, Johannes, had died without 
issue. To his brother, Hendrick, he conveyed the 
Claverack Manor, 1 June, 1704, with fifteen hundred 
acres known as Greenbush. To his sister, Maria, he 
deeded another tract, and to his sister, Anne, wife of 
William Nicoll, he deeded a tract in the town of Bethle- 
hem, west of the Hudson. 

Anne Van Eensselaer, daughter of Jeremias and widow 
of Kiliaen Van Eensselaer, married, second, William 
Nicoll. This marriage took place probably in 1688. 

IX Mary Nicoll, wife of Eobert Watts. 



82 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

X The Honorable John Watts, Senior, 

XI The Honorable John Watts, Junior. 

XII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de 
Peyster. 

XIII General John Watts de Peyster. 

The Van Rensselaer Arms: Gules, a cross moline, 
argent. 

Crest: A high basket, from which issue flames, all 
proper. 

Motto: Niemond zonder. 



CHAPTER X 

SCHUYLER AND VAN SLICHTENHOEST 

The records of Amsterdam show that a Pieter 
Schuyler, or Schuylert, born in Cologne, appeared before 
tlie Burgomasters of Amsterdam, with his wife. . The 
latter was Catharina, the daughter of Cors Jansen Buyck, 
of a well-known Amsterdam family. She was married 
to Pieter Schuyler prior to 1639. It is probable that 
this Pieter Schuyler was the father of Captain Philip 
Pieterse Schuyler, the first of the name in America. 

I Pieter Schuyler was probably a resident of 
Amsterdam, Holland. 

II Captain Philip Pieterse Schuyler, shown by his 
name to have been a son of Pieter Schuyler, came to this 
country from Amsterdam. On 12 May, 1650, he mar- 
ried, at "Beverwyck" — the old name of Albany — 
Margareta Van Slichtenhorst. He became a wealthy 
trader, and was Commissary or Magistrate at Fort 
Orange from 1655 almost continuously, under Stuyve- 
sant and Nicolls, until his death, 9 May, 1683. Hie 
rank of Captain was gained at Albany, 1 November, 
1667. Captain Schuyler was eminent in military, politi- 
cal and social life. His coat of arms was one of those 
painted upon the windows of the old Dutch Church at 
Albany. In his will, which he made jointly with his 
wife, 1 May, 1683, and which was proved 4 March, 
1683-4, he mentions eight children, "Gertruyd, the wife 
of Stephanus Van Cortlandt; Alida, the wife of Robert 
Livingston; Petr, Brant, Phillip, Arent, Johannes, and 
Margaret Schuyler." 

Captain Schuyler and Margareta Van Slichtenhorst 
had issue: (1) Gysbert, who was born 2 July, 1652, 
and died young; (2) Gertrude; (3) Alida; (4) Peter, 
who was born 17 September, 1657; (5) Brant, who was 

83 



84 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

born 18 December, 1659; (6) Arent, who was born 25 
June, 1662; (7) Sybilla, who was born 12 November, 
1664, and died young; (8) Philip, who was born 8 
February, 1666; (9) Johannes, who was born 5 April, 
1668; and (10) Margaret, born 2 January, who mar- 
ried, first, Jacobus Verplanck, and, second, John Collins. 

III Gertrude Schuyler, daughter of Captain Philip 
Pieterse Schuyler and Margareta Van Slichtenhorst, was 
born 4 February, 1654. She married, 10 September, 
1671, De Heer Stephanus Van Cortlandt, and died in 
1718. Through her daughter, Anna Van Cortlandt, 
who married Stephen de Laneey, two lines of Schuyler 
descent can be traced to General de Peyster. 

1 

IV Anna Van Cortlandt, wife of Stephen de Laneey. 

V Ann de Laneey, wife of the Honorable John 
Watts, Senior. 

VI The Honorable Jolm Watts, Junior. 

VII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de 
Peyster. 

VIII General John Watts de Peyster. 

2 

IV Anna Van Cortlandt, wife of Stephen de Laneey. 

V Peter de Laneey. 

VI Jane de Laneey, wife of the Honorable John 
Watts, Junior. 

VII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de 
Peyster. 

VIII General Jolm Watts de Peyster. 

3 
III Alida Schuyler, another daughter of Captain 
Philip Pieterse Schuyler and Margareta Van Slichten- 
horst, was born 28 February, 1656. She married, first, 
10 February, 1675, the Eev. Nicolaus Van Eensselaer. 
Her second marriage took place in 1679, when she 
became the wife of Eobert Livingston. Through her a 
third Schuyler line appears in the ancestry of General 
de Peyster. 



SCHUYLEE AND VAN SLICHTENHOEST 85 

IV Gilbert Livingston, son of Alida Schuyler and 
Eobert Livingston. 

V Eobert Gilbert Livingston. 

VI Helen Livingston, wife of Samuel Hake. 

VII Helen Hake, wife of Captain Frederic de 
Peyster. 

VIII Frederic de Peyster. 

IX General John Watts de Peyster. 

The Schuyler Arms: Vert, issuing from a cloud, 
proper, a cubit arm, in fess, vested, azure, holding on the 
hand a falcon, close, all proper. 

Crest: A hawk, close, proper. 

VAN SLICHTENHORST 

I Arent Van Slichtenhorst was probably a resident 
of Nykerk^ Gelderland. He had issue: (1) Arent Van 
Slichtenhorst, who was a celebrated poet and historian; 
and (3) Brant. 

II Brant Arentse Van Slichtenhorst was, as his 
name indicates, a son of Arent Van Slichtenhorst. In 
1648 he came to '^Beverwyck," afterwards Albany, as 
Eesident-Director of the Colony of Eensselaerwyck. 
This chief magistrate and superintendent of the colony 
was a man of education. Becoming involved in conflicts 
with Stuyvesant over questions of authority and juris- 
diction affecting the rights of the Patroon of Eensselaer- 
wyck, he was arrested, escaped from prison, was 
re-arrested, and finally released. Later on he resigned 
his oflBce to Jan Baptist Van Eensselaer, and, in 1660, 
returned to Holland. He was a man of justice and 
liberty, always maintaining the rights of the colony as 
guaranteed under the charter of Freedoms and Exemp- 
tions of 1629. His wife having died in Holland, he 
brought to America with him his two children: (1) 
Gerrit, who became a Magistrate of Albany and 
Schenectady, and was later a resident of Esopus ; and (2) 
Margareta. 

III Margareta, daughter of Brant Arentse Van 
Slichtenhorst, was born in Nykerk. She was married at 



86 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

the age of twenty-two, according to the old family record 
written by her husband, to Captain Philip Pieterse 
Schuyler. She survived her husband twenty-eight years, 
dying in 1711. Eobert Livingston, her son-in-law, was 
one of the executors of her estate. 

General de Peyster inherited three strains of Van 
Slichtenhorst blood, being descended from two children 
of Margareta Van Slichtenhorst and Captain Philip 
Pieterse Schuyler, through one of whom a double line 
comes down. 

1 

IV Gertrude Schuyler, daughter of Margareta Van 
Slichtenhorst and Philip Pieterse Schuyler, and wife of 
De Heer Stephanus Van Cortlandt. 

V Anna Van Cortlandt, wife of Stephen de Lancey. 

VI Peter de Lancey. 

VII Jane de Lancey, wife of the Honorable John 
Watts, Junior. 

VIII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de 
Peyster. 

IX General John Watts de Peyster. 

2 

IV Gertriide Schuyler, daughter of Margareta Van 
Slichtenhorst and Philip Pieterse Schuyler, and wife of 
De Heer Stephanus Van Cortlandt. 

V Anna Van Cortlandt, wife of Stephen de Lancey. 

VI Ann de Lancey, wife of the Honorable John 
Watts, Senior. 

VII The Honorable John Watts, Junior. 

VIII Mary Justina Watts, wife of Frederic de 
Peyster. 

IX General John Watts de Peyster. 

3 

IV Alida Schuyler, daughter of Margareta Van 
Slichtenhorst and Philip Pieterse Schuyler, and wife of 
Eobert Livingston. 

V Gilbert Livingston. 

VI Eobert Gilbert Livingston. 

VII Helen Livingston, wife of Samuel Hake. 



SCHUYLER A:N"D VAN SLICHTENHOEST 87 

VIII Helen Hake, wife of Captain Frederic de 
Peyster 

IX Frederic de Peyster. 

X General John Watts de Peyster. 

By blood and inheritance General de Peyster was a 
typical New York aristocrat. The roll-call of his ances- 
try assembles the chief of the famous ruling families of 
colonial New York — de Peyster, Livingston, Van Cort- 
landt, Van Rensselaer, de Lancey, Schuyler, Beekman, 
Philipse, Watts, Mcoll, French and Colden. Four of 
these, Van Rensselaer, Livingston, Van Cortlandt, and 
Philipse, were the great manorial grandees of the 
Province. A martial spirit stirred the blood of the de 
Lanceys and the Schuylers; the Nicolls and the Living- 
stons were lawyers, jurists, politicians and statesmen; 
Colden was a philosopher. 

General de Peyster inherited a double strain from the 
de Peysters and the de Lanceys, a triple strain from the 
Van Slichtenhorsts and Schuylers, and a quadruple 
strain from the Loockermans and Van Cortlandts. By 
blood, therefore, if not in name, he was more of a de 
Lancey than the de Lanceys themselves, more of a 
Schuyler than the Schuylers, more of a Van Cortlandt 
than the Van Cortlandts. 

The racial ingredients in General de Peyster's ancestry 
make it strikingly typical of New York. The de Pey- 
sters were Flemish, as were the Haukens, and perhaps 
the de Vries and de Booghs; Nicoll, Reade, French, 
Woodhall, and Grafton are English stocks; de Lancey is 
French; Mac Pheadris, Irish; AVatts, Colden, Christie 
and Livingston, Scotch; Schuyler, Beekman and Harden- 
broeck, probably German; Van Cortlandt, Van Rensse- 
laer, Philipse, Loper, Hu5^gens, Van Slichtenhorst, Van 
Wely, Jansen and Loockermans, Dutch. At least seven 
races, of those whose blended blood and genius laid the 
foundations of New York, compounded their influences 
at the birth of General de Peyster. 



BOOK II 
EAELY RECOLLECTIONS 



CHAPTER XI 

NUMBER THREE BROADWAY 

For the early period of General de Peyster's life we 
are fortunate in having his personal reminiscences, dic- 
tated to an amanuensis in 1876, at the age of fifty-five. 
These possess a peculiar interest. Presenting the New 
York of his youth from the view-point of a young 
aristocrat of an intensely vivid temperament, their fresh- 
ness and originality invest them with the charm and 
manner of one of the great creations, in the form of 
autobiography, of our masters of fiction. The General 
criticizes persons and things with a freedom which, 
throughout his life, won him the respect of great minds, 
and the petty enmity of the mean. The reader may not 
always agree with him, but he will be interested in the 
early impressions of so extraordinary a personality, and 
in this picture of social life in the early part of the 
Nineteenth Century. 

These reminiscences, hitherto unpublished, are given 
in General de Peyster's own words, in this and the fol- 
lowing chapters. 



My first recollection, if it is an exertion of individual 
memory, is of two children that were brought to play 
with me, when I was about two years old. This was at 
a house, which I have often since recognized, about the 
junction of the Eighth avenue with the Bloomingdale 
road, whither we had moved to get rid of the yellow 
fever — or that is the reason which has been given me for 
our being there. 

Between this period and four or five years of age my 
recollections are vague: pictures present themselves to 
me, but I cannot assign the dates, although they are 

91 



92 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

perfectly vivid. I see faces, I hear voices, I recognize 
localities. One thing I do recall, and with disgust — the 
manner in which I was crammed with food. The way 
arrow-root was forced down my throat, while I lay prone 
and helpless across Mammie Trainque's knees, has made 
me hate that nourishing article, and the silver vessel 
from which it was administered, ever since. If any 
escaped, she used to hoe it up with her forefinger, and 
then shove it into my mouth, wiping that finger between 
m.y open lips, so that I am often nearly sea-sick at the 
thought. 

My dress was nothing like the dresses of children at 
this day. I wore ample frills, almost ruffs, around my 
neck, and long aprons, almost to the ankles; but under- 
neath were very respectable imitations of trousers and 
jackets. I slept in the same bed with Mammie, on 
feathers, in a room heated with sea-coal, which I con- 
sider injured my health; and I was pampered in every 
way. I had heavy plum cake, ad libitum, and mince 
pies, in season, at all hours. Beppy, my foster sister, 
was as admirable a cook as she was an excellent woman. 
How Mammie bullied her, and her tyranny wi'ecked her 
life. Beppy was fidelity itself, and to the last moment 
as true as steel. I do not believe that a better woman 
ever lived on the face of this earth. I have never seen 
one like her. Both she and Mammie died while I was 
watching them, of disease of the heart. When she was 
so weak that she could scarcely walk, while she was in 
charge of my place, because she deemed it her duty 
to protect things during my absence, she would climb a 
hill nearly an eighth of a mile long, away back in the 
field, to drive out from a field of oats the turkeys of 
thieving neighbors. 

One thing I recollect with horror. Mammie and her 
cronies used to delight in stories of ghosts and similar 
subjects, and I used to get down in the bed, to the very 
foot, under the covering, with every fiber quivering, and 
then have such dreams that the recalling of them excites 
horror at this day. 



NUMBER THREE BROADWAY 93 

And yet Mammie was an excellent woman; but she 
had no judgment. She would have saved my life with 
her heart's blood. Nevertheless, I believe that her want 
of common sense laid the basis of all the misery of my 
life. She ruined my stomach with dainties, and she 
spoiled me in every way that a poor little chap could be 
spoiled. With all this, she would have risked her life 
for me, and afterwards for my son, Watts, at any 
moment, as was proved. 

Besides the servants, there was in the house where I 
was born, No. 3 Broadway, my dear old grandfather. 
Honorable John Watts. I suppose he was what the 
world, in its worthless judgment, styles a stern man. 
To me, he was ever the gentlest and best. What should 
I have been without him? He realized what has been 
said of St. Paul: "Defective health, united with a 
vitality like iron, and a will of steel." He was seventy- 
three as he first lives in my memory, and just so he 
continues until within a few weeks before his death. 
He was as straight as an arrow, about five feet ten, with 
the springy step of an Indian. He was the handsomest 
old gentleman I ever saw. He had bright, dark-blue 
eyes, like sapphires — I have no recollection of another 
pair of such colored eyes — and the most exquisite, silky, 
silver, curly or wavy hair. He could ride like a guacho, 
walk like a hunter, and the Honorable Samuel B. Bug- 
gies has often told me that, so concisely did he think 
and express himself, he could say more on a page of 
note paper than most men on a sheet of foolscap. 

Two of his sons, my mother^s brothers, were living 
in tlie house. Besides my aunt Elizabeth, these were 
all that were left of a family of ten. Robert, as con- 
ceded by every one, was the handsomest man in New 
York, and so I remember him. Every one of his 
associates told me, when I had grown up, that he was 
as glorious in his disposition as he was in his appearance. 
He led a very gay life, exposed himself without a care 
for his health, and was bled to death by his cousin, Dr. 
John Watts, a perfect sangrado, although a most 



94 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

eminent physician. It was the fashion of the day to 
phlebotomize. This bleeding converted an inflammation 
of the lungs into consumption, and he lingered, to die 
on the tln-eshhold of golden fortune. I was held up in 
my father's arms for him to smile good-bye to me. My 
dear, kind, generous, universally-beloved uncle, "Bob" 
Watts ! 

Uncle Stephen differed from him as much as day does 
from night. Uncle Robert was magnificent in his pro- 
portions. Stevie was small, but beautifully made. 
Nevertheless, he had the courage of a lion, and the will 
of my grandfather. That expresses all that need be 
said. This will was the cause of his death. He was 
very ill, but said he would get up and walk around the 
Battery, in November. The famous Dr. Post answered, 
"Stephen, if you do so, it will be the last walk you will 
ever take on earth." He got up, dressed himself, and 
took the walk, came home, went to his bed, and died. 
"Mrs. Trainque," said he to my nurse — it was a brutal 
November day — "I felt the wind go through me like 
gimlets of ice." 

Stephen was a great sportsman. What hampers of 
game of forest, field and stream I have seen him bring 
home ! He was a great driver, too ; drove a tilbury and 
tandem; had beautiful dogs. Barstow, his favorite 
setter, died of grief when his master was dead. 

My grandfather, as stated, was a wonderful rider. 
Strange to say, neither of my two uncles could or would 
make a show on horseback. 

To demonstrate Stephen's coolness: one day Stephen, 
when out shooting, came upon an enormous "copper- 
head." The snake struck at him, but, quicker than the 
snake, Steve dropped his gun, and blew his head off. 

Robert was a great tease. He used to torment Stevie's 
life out of him; but, with all the difference of size, he 
never dared to let Stevie come to close quarters, for 
Stevie was a perfect tiger when his blood was up. 

What an irregular house was that dear old home, No. 
3 Broadway ! Grandfather used to breakfast in every 



NUMBER THREE BROADWAY 95 

kind of style, anywhere from 4 A. M. to noon. I got 
my breakfast between 7 A. M. and 9. Robert break- 
fasted in his apartments somewhere — well, in the course 
of the day. I remember he used to drink green tea, 
strong enough to blow the top of your head off. Stevie 
occupied a part of the third story. I know he was 
almost as bad as Bob, but then he was less at home. He 
used to be off shooting and fishing for days and weeks. 

Three o'clock was the nominal dinner hour, but I 
seldom remember more than two at table. As for tea, 
that was taken promiscously as to time and place. After 
tea, how often grandfather and I went to the theatre ! 
What time Uncle Bob used to come home nobody ever 
would have known, had it not been that we sometimes 
heard a cheery voice caroling a stave or whistling a tune 
in the room under the nursery. He idolized me, teased 
me, and appeased me with magnificent presents. I have 
never seen such toys from that day to this. How often 
Mammie has taken me out of my crib and carried me 
down to his room to finish my sleep by his side ! 

The reception of Lafayette took place in 1824. I have 
impressions of what occurred. Once I believed I remem- 
bered everything distinctly. Now it is impossible to 
decide if it is only the memory of the individual facts, 
or of what I was told and saw. Uncle Bob was bosom 
friend of Sam Gouverueur, who married a daughter of 
President Monroe. The latter lived with "Sam" in 
Houston street, near Broadway, and there Lafayette was 
a constant guest. I perfectly remember the aged Pres- 
ident, in his satin knee breeches, hovering over a grate 
in the dingy parlor — for dingy it was to me, accustomed 
to grand, bright rooms. 

The first indelible impression on my young mind, and 
it is as vivid as if it had occurred yesterday, was the 
celebration of the completion of the Erie Canal. The 
top of No. 3 Broadway was comparatively flat, and there 
was a railing around it. Southwards a sort of bridge 
projected to an enormous chimney, next to No. 1, built 
by my great uncle, Hon. Archibald Kennedy, afterwards 



96 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

eleventh Earl of Cassilis. From this bridge and the 
roof there was an unobstructed view up Broadway and 
down State street, as well as of Greenwich street in the 
rear, through the open space, about fifty feet. The 
demonstrations of respect were on the 26th of October, 
1825. I was then four and a half years old. The 
procession (or part of it) formed on the west side of 
Greenwich street, with its right on Marketfield street; 
it then wheeled or countermarched, passed up Greenwich 
street to Canal street, thence to Broadway, up Broadway 
to Broome street, by the latter across to the Bowery, 
down the latter to Pearl street, and through this around 
to the Battery. 

On the Battery the display by land united with the 
aquatic party, and thence the whole, united, marched 
up Broadway to the City Hall. The city by day was 
wild with enthusiasm, and ablaze with illuminations at 
night. I know this: that I have witnessed other cele- 
brations on which a vast deal more money had been 
expended, but none which were anything like as effective. 

Little shaver as I was, I was peculiarly struck with 
the Faculty and Students of Columbia College, in their 
silk gowTis. That they were dressed in this style, like 
parsons equipped for the pulpit, and why, I remember, 
bothered me considerably. 

The butchers made a magnificent display. They had 
three or four cars, each followed by detachments of 
butchers, mounted on horses of the same color, bay for 
one, black for another; and they were horses, and their 
riders knew how to manage them. The saddlers and 
harness-makers were likewise admirably represented. 
Uncle Bob had given me a large, exquisite, toy horse, 
which we named "White Surrey.^' Just such a real 
horse, led by two black grooms in Moorish dress, headed 
their Society. 

In their part of the line, the Boat-Builders' Associa- 
tion displayed the Whitehall boat that won the great 
race, 20th May, 1835, a triumph which was then the 
boast of every class in the city, and continued to be long 




THE COUNTESS OF GASSILIS, NEE ANN WATTS 
From a Painting 



NUMBER THEEE BEOADWAY 97 

afterwards. I think this boat was afterwards exliibited 
at "Scudders" or the "American Museum." 

Tlie Fourth Division comprised the Fire Department, 
and it never appeared as it did on this occasion. People 
worked for love in those days ; there was no blackmailing, 
nor dirty tricks. A little money went a great way, 
because it was expended faithfully, and those who could 
assist with their professional or mechanical aid accom- 
plished all that man could, gratuitously. 

Colden's Memoir of the Grand Canal Celebration, 
royal octavo, over 400 pages, was "presented by the City 
of New York to the Honorable John Watts, Eecorder of 
the City of New York in 1774, and First Judge of West 
Chester County in 1803." My grandfather was legally 
Eecorder until he was succeeded by Eichard Varick, in 
1783. He held a number of other important public 
offices, but he was not a loquacious man, or else I would 
know a great deal more about my native city. One thing 
impresses itself: he remembered New York when, as 
to the compact portion, it was within Wall street. 

No one ever saw a procession to better advantage than 
I did this. I saw the start from my grandfather's. No. 
3 Broadway, which, as I said, ran through to Greenwich 
street, and the close from my Aunt Laight's room, south- 
east corner of Broadway and Flat and Barrack Hill, now 
Exchange Place. As for the illuminations in the 
evening, people said they were very fine. I must have 
seen them, for everybody was devoted to me, and took 
me everywhere; but, poor little shaver, I must have been 
too tired out when night came to remember anything. 

People may laugh at this relation of my experience, 
and say that it is the result of subsequent conversations. 
What, then, will be the judgment when I put down that 
I remember the reception of Lafayette in the previous 
year, 1824? (He landed in New York 15th August, 
1824.) It was not dwelt upon because it is simply a 
dim impression, whereas the panorama of the canal 
celebration absolutely passes before my eyes as a reality 
every time that I think about it. 

7 



98 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Lafayette is associated in my mind with many years of 
happiness, for I had a pet dog called the "Marquis de 
Lafayette." It was brought to me by my Uncle Eobert, 
but I cannot say whether it came direct from Lafayette 
himself, or from him through ex-President Monroe. 
This dog was unlike any one I have since seen. No tiny 
black and tan terrier was more exquisitely formed; but 
it was a French dog, some relation to a French pug. 
It lies buried under a sand-stone slab in the yard of No. 
3 Broadway, inscribed "Mark," his pet name; but, as 
the remains of men are not respected in Gotham, it is 
not to be supposed that those of dogs are. Like many 
a noble knight, sung of in poetry, 

"His bones are dust," 
and most like his memorial has been built into the 
foundations of the warehouse on the site of our stable 
on Greenwich street. Uncle Eobert Watts was very 
intimate with Sam Gouverneur, son-in-law of President 
James Monroe, and it was through his connection we 
got the dog. 

I must have seen Lafayette and have been presented 
to him, but for some reason or other he could have made 
no impression on me. Perhaps a good reason for this 
arises from the fact that I never took stock in him, 
considering him a very much overrated character. My 
father, Frederic de Peyster, Jr., was military secretary 
to the justly celebrated Governor De Witt Clinton, who 
was Executive of the State in 1825, and as everybody 
made a great deal of me on account of my connections, 
I was taken everywhere and permitted to put my tiny 
hand in the big hands of the greatest people. Moreover, 
my grandfather, Frederic de Peyster, Esq., was an inti- 
mate friend of Governor Clinton, and had been closely 
associated with him in the establishment of our common 
school system. Whether I was presented to Lafayette 
or not, my memory would not be worth a copper, if it 
did not retain the fuss made over him. 

New York rang with "Hurrah for Lafayette !" as it 
never rang with any other name except "Jackson." No 



NUMBER THREE BROADWAY 99 

man in the United States, in my lifetime, had the 
individiTal popularity of "Old Hickory." Even I, as a 
boy, was a Democrat when he ran, but I never belonged 
to that party after I came to comprehend matters and 
bad a vote. 

Before quitting this subject, a few words about 
President Monroe. When I was about nine he came to 
New York to live permanently with his son-in-law, Sam 
Gouverneur. "Sam" was a real genial man — no saint. 
He resided in Prince street, just east of Broadway. Mr. 
Monroe looked just like the usual pictures of him. He 
was very kind to me; I recall him in his black velvet or 
satin knee breeches, sitting close in by the side of the 
front parlor fireplace. He did not strike me as a man 
who should be or who had been President of these 
United States. My uncle, Robert Gilbert Livingston de 
Peyster, who helped Jacob Barker to save the picture of 
Washington when the English burnt the National 
Capitol, 24th August, 1814, knew him well. 

When I was five years old I was first sent to day 
school, Mr. Preswick's. He was a gentle pedagogue, and 
helped to spoil me, took interest in my fishing tackle, 
and gave me many a certificate entitling me to a penny, 
for merit in scholarship, which were good for dollars at 
home. 

Before I went to him, my dear old iVunt Laight 
had coached me through the rudiments. I could spell 
Abecedinarian, and words of that calibre; yes, hard 
words, which if I could spell as well now, would give 
me the prize at every "spelling bee." 

Poor Mr. Preswick ! He had a little boy on whom 
he doted; he wandered down on the dock, fell in, and 
was drowned. They got him out very quickly, and I 
remember they rolled him on a barrel — the worst thing 
they could have done — but he was gone. Even the 
holidays which resulted could not brighten the gloom 
cast over us little ones by this sad event. If it were 
yesterday, instead of fifty years ago, my sad walk home 
on that occasion could not be more present to my mind. 



100 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

I was seven years old when the political contest 
between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson 
occurred. This campaign was one to be remembered. 
Money was not squandered in the prodigal manner of 
the present day, but what was lacking in expensive 
humbuggery was more than made up in bitterness 
and enthusiasm. My instincts were all in favor of 
Adams, but they were swept away by the electrifying 
influences which emanated from the victory of Jackson 
over the British at New Orleans. This, too, despite the 
hand-bills with the six coffins of the Kentuckians h? 
shot for want of discipline ! 

As soon as I could read, my wise father had given 
me books, ad libitum, and, if I never was good at 
anything else, I was excellent at reading, and the amount 
of it that I had done, when most boys really begin to 
read, is something almost incredible. What is still more 
remarkable, I have forgotten very little of the gist 
of what I read at that time. 

As soon as the Harpers began to publish their Family 
Library, it was bought for me, and for many years I 
read every volmne as it came out. The result of my 
reading had made me acquainted with Jackson's career. 
With liim I had fought his duels; the Creeks, the Semi- 
noles, the British; had hung Arbuthnot in Florida, and 
handled the Spanish Governor of that Territory in the 
only way that can bring such hidalgos to their senses. 

Here let me slip in a remark. Jackson is said to have 
really saved New Orleans by his night attack of 
December 23d, 1814, because this daring slap in the 
face made the British over cautious afterwards. Hereby 
time was gained, and in war, time is often of inestimable 
value. Human life, property, money, are often of no 
account, even if expended with the utmost prodigality, 
provided they gain the necessary time. My mother's 
cousin. Captain Jolm Watts, of the British Army, after- 
wards Deputy Warden of Walmer Castle, under Welling- 
ton, corroborated the view above taken of this night 
attack. He was at the capture of Washington, and in 



NUMBER THEEE BEOADWAY 101 

the attempt on New Orleans. He described how he was 
awakened by the unexpected fire of the Americans, a 
ball going through liis camp-kettle, which hung over his 
head. If he did not use the very words, he said as much, 
I think. At all events, he admitted it was a very spirited 
affair on the part of the Americans. 

By the way, this Captain Watts, B. A., who had seen 
a great deal of service, related an anecdote of what 
occurred to him in Washington, when his troops entered, 
which is worth repeating. He said that he had been 
hard put to it, and sadly needed a change of linen. 
Stepping into a store, he offered to exchange his dirty 
shirt, which, however, was of the finest linen, and 
beautifully frilled, for a clean one, however coarse the 
material. The American agreed, and the swap was 
made on the spot. As Captain Watts turned to go out, 
the American said to him, "Look here, mister, I have let 
you have a clean shirt, but let me tell you, if I get a 
chance, I sha'n't hesitate to dirty it by putting a ball 
through the body inside of it." 

At this time I was seven years old, as I said. I was 
already quite a good horseman. A pony, almost a horse, 
was either hired for me, or bought for me. I guess he 
was only on trial, for soon afterwards there was no horse 
around that I did not use, under the saddle or in harness. 

About this time Uncle Stevie died. For a few days 
I had been sent around to the town house of my grand- 
father de Peyster, on the west side of Broad, just above 
Garden street. I was taken home to see Stevie in his 
coflSn. Dear old grandfather, himself, led me up into 
the death room. So strong was the impression left upon 
my mind by the sight of that marble face, that, thirty 
years afterwards, when I repaired the old Family Vault 
in Trinity churchyard, and reboxed the coffins, the lid 
of his came off, and I recognized the remains by the 
hair and the contour of the skull. While I stood, awe- 
struck, beside my deceased uncle, grandfather walked up 
and down the room, stately as ever, murmuring, '^Toor 
Stevie ! poor Stevie !" 



102 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

My cousin, Philip Kearny, Jr., afterwards the famous 
Union General of the Rebellion, subsequently had this 
room. He often reminded me of our Uncle Stephen, 
with his extreme nicety of dress and precision of habits. 
When he came, our military studies commenced, to which 
I have alluded in my Life of the General. 

[While General Kearny and the writer lived together 
in the house of their grandfather, from 1829 to 1834, 
almost all the leisure time of both was spent in mimic 
campaigns, with armies composed of from four to six 
thousand leaden soldiers, with perfect trains of artillery, 
and even other adjuncts of a well-provided host. Battles 
were fought according to a digested system, which even 
regulated what proportion of those knocked down, by 
the mimic fire of musketry or artillery, should be con- 
sidered as dead, or too severely wounded to take part 
in the rest of the campaign, and how many as slightly 
wounded, and how long the latter should be looked upon 
as remaining in the hospital before they were again 
available. 

The firing was done with small spring-guns, one shot 
for each cannon, one for each regiment or separate 
detachment of infantry, and so many for each line of 
sharp-shooters. When the firing, alternating, had gone 
through both lines of battle, the different bodies were 
moved a shorter or longer determined distance, according 
as they belonged to the different arms, over spaces 
dictated by the real relative speed of the different serv- 
ices, whether light or heavy cavalry, light or line 
infantry, field or reserve artillery. This was not left to 
hazard, but according to a written or stipulated code. 

Field works and permanent fortifications were con- 
structed of pasteboard, and the irregularities of ground 
represented by piles of books and similar objects, built 
up in accordance with agreement, before operations 
commenced. One siege lasted a number of weeks, and 
the tidy, dearly-beloved, and respected old housekeeper, 
wife of a former sword-master at West Point, was driven 
almost wild by the accumulation of dust, and the appro- 



NUMBER THEEE BROADWAY 103 

priation of huge dining-tables, of solid mahogany, the 
pride of her heart, whose oiling and polishing absorbed 
the greater part of her time. Every other kind of table, 
or flat piece of furniture, was impressed, which could 
be dragged out of its place and made available to eke 
out the theatre of action. She could scarcely be pacified 
at the subsequent disorder of the spacious rooms, and 
the prohibition, strictly enforced, against sweeping and 
dusting, lest the bustle should knock down or disarrange 
the soldiers. 

Fleets of paste-board were even attempted, but mari- 
time operations could not be made to work, since many 
a pellet which hit the sides of a vessel would level all 
on board, and then a quarrel would ensue, as to how 
many were killed and how many wounded, which often 
ended in a fight, and put an end to mimic hostilities, 
until the actual hostilities, between the leaders, were 
settled, and the wounded honor of either or both was 
appeased. A very forcible shot from one of the spring- 
guns, close at hand, against a paste-board ship, had the 
same effect as the impact of one of Farragut's vessels, 
when they butted the iron-clad "Tennessee" in the Bay 
of ]\Iobile. All the poor little leaden soldiers were 
knocked off their feet, and a number overboard. 

As the question of how many knew how to swim, and 
how many ought to be drowned, was never taken into 
consideration when the code of procedure was drawn up, 
it led to so much argument that the belligerents came 
to the conclusion of Napoleon ; that it was as useless for 
them, as for him, to attempt the empire of the sea. 

Kearny continued to enjoy this amusement even while 
he was in college, and perhaps still longer. When he 
began to go into society, he took so much pains with his 
dress, and spent so much of his time out of the house, 
that he gradually relinquished a game which had given 
him such great delight and occupation for years.*] 



*The paragraphs within brackets, inserted here, are from General 
de Peyster's "Personal and Military History of Philip Kearny." — F. A. 



104 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

There was a perfect menagerie in the yard of No. 3 
Broadway. Deer gazed upon strangers with their soft 
black eyes, and died suddenly. Dissection by our butcher 
revealed the cause in over affection for each other, or 
the rabbits testified by licking them, since he found large 
and hard balls of hair in their stomachs, Eabbitfe, flop- 
eared, straight-eared, and all kinds of eared, burrowed 
under the ground, and rats countermined th^m from 
the stable and ate their young in their burrows. Opos- 
sums hung by their tails from the trees, and sometimes 
got into the neighbors' houses and made themselves 
disagreeable. Peccaries gnashed their tusks; and dogs 
flashed their teeth, sometimes in each other, sometimes 
in my guilty legs, and oftener in the innocent legs of 
visitors. It was a pandemonium when something 
started a chorus. 

As for birds, they were innumerable. Pigeons of all 
kinds spoiled the rain water of our neighbors, to the 
ruin of their tempers, and our own to the injury of our 
stomachs, for drinking water was bad in New York jin 
those days, and was peddled around by the pail, from a 
cask on wheels. The Manhattan water was scarcely drink- 
able, spoiled by a long passage through pipes bored out 
of logs of wood. To afford some idea of the number 
of birds, there was one cage about six feet square, and 
ten feet high, filled with the most beautiful and vocal 
varieties. One night the rats made an inroad and left 
it like a Bulgarian village sacked by a horde of Bashi- 
Bazouks. It is said that the English drum ushers in 
the sun, from a chain of posts encircling the globe. On 
our premises the sun was welcomed, from a chain of 
coops encircling the extensive yard, with the note of 
every bird which, at that time, commerce had brought 
to New York, 



CHAPTEE XII 

A NEW YORK BOAEDING-SCHOOL 

Next year, when I was eight, the "Sorrows of Werther" 
began. I had become a thoroughly spoiled chap, 
allowed to do pretty much as I chose, and a great many 
things that I chose were very naughty. 

My grandfather was a very large landowner. He 
owned- land in thirty-two counties. Besides, he was 
proprietor or patroon of the Lower Claverack Manor, a 
tract ten miles square around the City of Hudson, in 
Columbia County. Hundreds of tenants used to come 
to see him, and, as I was looked upon as his heir, they 
used to bow to me as the young Patroon, and if I had 
been a prince I could not have been more pampered. 
My nurse was also housekeeper; consequently royalty did 
not fare better. Her daughter, Beppy, presided over the 
dainties, and you may be sure I did not lack. 

Her son, Peter, was my henchman. The whole family 
were musical; he was a sweet singer indeed. Between 
them they taught me over two hundred songs, and I 
could sing them until I got the bronchitis, in 1851. 
Since then, comparatively speaking, I can scarcely turn 
a tune. 

Black Tom, the coachman, most faithful, even to the 
death, of a class now extinct, but '^most dissipated and 
careless of niggers," was my bond-slave. He developed 
my equestrian qualifications. He once saved my grand- 
father from a terrible accident with a vicious horse, 
which shied with the gig into a ditch, and did everything 
bad a horse could do. Tom clung to that animal's head, 
at the risk of his life, until grandfather could be 
extricated. 

Fate took me in hand about this time and packed me 
off to boarding-school. I believe even Mammie was 

105 



106 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

willing to let me go, however sorry, very soon afterwards. 
Mammie's system of spoiling me followed me thither, and 
at that boarding-school, while I gained an immense deal, 
I met with an accident which, developing seeds planted 
at home by many things intended as kindnesses, ruined 
my health for the rest of my life. ' 

The boarding-school was the Washington Institute. 
It is said that Lafayette paid it a visit, and, on being 
requested to name it, gave it this title, which it always 
afterwards bore. 

When I first became a pupil we were all compelled to 
wear the uniform which, it is said, Lafayette selected 
when he gave it its title. When I left, I do not think a 
single scholar continued to wear it. It made perfect 
guys of us. Imagine a lot of little shavers in Conti- 
nental uniform — blue coats, faced, turned up, and lined 
with buff, and big brass buttons; buff vests, with 
moderate flaps. Strange to say, I never have been able 
to recall what I wore on my head or my legs, nor can 
Major-General Charles K. Graham, IT. S. V., who was 
a fellow-pupil. I think we wore beavers, with a cockade 
in the side; blue pantaloons in winter, with a buff stripe 
or cord down the leg, like the present police, white cloth 
ones in the spring, and linen in summer. I know, in 
the rural district, they used to take me for a little 
sucking midshipman, for the uniforms were not unlike. 
Those who did so were civil, but those who did not were 
extremely unpleasant in their remarks, and poked fun 
at me until I abhorred my livery. 

The school structure was a very large square building, 
fronting north, standing on an elevation on the south 
side of Thirteenth Street, which had been dug down some 
twelve feet or more. There was quite a large garden 
attached, to the east, and this, together with the yard 
play-grounds, occupied, I should think, fully one-half 
the central area of the block between Twelfth and Thir- 
teenth streets, the Bowery, and Tliird Avenue. The east 
and south sides were bounded by enormous sheds, for 
the boys to play under in rainy weather. One end, at 



A NEW YOEK BOAEDING SCHOOL 107 

first of the west, and then of the south shed, was fitted 
np as a theatre, and before I left I became a very prom- 
inent comic performer. Twice the tlieatre was broken 
up because the faculty thought that it drew our minds 
away from our studies. In fact, they several times 
traversed really extensive preparations for display. Once 
we got up races, some boys playing horses and some boys 
playing charioteers. The harness was elaborate, and the 
jockey costumes very handsome. Why this was knocked 
in the head I never could imagine ; that it was a punish- 
ment for some violation of the rules is pretty certain. 
Still, considering the outlay, preparation, including an 
immense amount of practice, and the hopes lavished upon 
it, it deserved a less stern fate. Nevertheless, the school 
was the most liberally managed educational institution 
to which I ever belonged, or with which I was ever 
acquainted. 

Taking schoolmasters as a class. Dr. Wickham, the 
principal, was a notable exception for benignity and 
excellence. He did try to make us happy, and he was 
not mean in furnishing us with amusement. W^hile I 
am writing, grateful recollections are swelling up in my 
bosom. I did not, could not, perhaps, appreciate him at 
his full value then. 

He was a tall, not ill-formed man, with a dark, 
pleasant face, and a very large nose. An Irish laborer 
once wantonly split it in two with a spade, and it was 
"an object" ever after. I am happy to say that my 
father was the means of capturing that Irishman. The 
arrest was made at the risk of the parties' lives, and this 
wicked Paddy was sent to State Prison for a term of 
years, for resisting a police officer, but nothing was done 
to him for his injury to Dr. Wickham. To prove the 
Doctor's gentle disposition, he not only forgave the man 
who marred him for life, but carried comforts to him 
in the prison. 

Think of this — and he had terribly disfigured the 
Doctor, with a broad, raised, indigo welt, diagonally 
across the whole length of his nose, from eyebrow, on 



108 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

one side, to lip, on the other ! The Doctor was not a 
handsome man afterwards, but that did not stop him 
from getting a second wife. 

His first wife, the one we knew, was ^ gentle little 
woman, and a great invalid; she died while I was there, 
of protracted liver complaint, and I believe even we rude 
boys were sadly affected, although it brought us a 
holiday. 

During the first part of my sojourn, Dr. Wickham 
had a partner, Mons. Arnoiix or Arnaud. He was a 
nice man, also. The dormitory, in which I first slept, 
was separated from his bedroom by folding-doors. How 
often after "taps" he had occasion to separate those 
folding doors with his "Silence-la, He!" Like most 
Frenchmen that I have met, he did not get along 
pleasantly in his own family. A curious circumstance 
which, with all my intention to be frank, is best left 
unsaid, preceded Mr. Arnoux's leaving. We never had a 
good successor. Arnoux certainly was suflBciently 
French to give the right accent to our conversation, if 
not the right accent to our morals. 

Arnoux was very kind to me; he was the means of 
my learning to skate, hiring from a loafer boy the first 
pair of skates that were ever buckled on my little feet. 
We had some wonderful skaters at this school. One, 
the son of the then proprietor or landlord of the great 
Ballston Spa Hotel, besides doing a number of extraor- 
dinary feats, could leap an ordinary rail fence, if 
memory serves, on rockers. Boys are not as manly now 
as they were then, neither are men, say what you please. 

Although Arnoux was nominally second in command, 
a German named Lutz exercised the prerogatives. He 
was a wonderful, certainly the most learned man, in 
mathematics and natural philosophy, that I have ever 
encountered. What is more, he could make a practical 
use of everything that he knew, and impart information 
in a way that was perfectly marvelous. He was a 
peculiar man, but a good one; he had favorites, pets, 
curiously selected. One painful benefit of being a 



A NEW YOEK BOAEDING-SCHOOL 109 

protege was the inevitable necessity of working harder 
than anybody else. He crammed his chosen few to the 
extent of their powers of receptiveness. For instance, 
by the time I was nine I had been through the first five 
books of Euclid. He so grounded me in geometry that 
I never afterwards went to a school where I did not 
take the prize in this branch without much further labor. 
He taught me — oh, how it racked my little head — to 
multiply nine figures by nine figures, setting down the 
result in a single row. 

Do not let anyone imagine he was perfect. He was 
very quick-tempered, and then, as is the rule, imjust. 
The great punishment of this school was the "bread-and- 
water table." At this the delinquent fasted on bread 
and water, while the rest feasted at the long tables, on 
three sides. It was a humiliation worse, to a spirited 
boy, than a really painful punishment. The only time 
that I was disgraced, during my whole stay, was by being 
jerked out from my seat at table and placed in this sort 
of pillory by Professor Lutz. Doubtless I had deserved 
punishment a thousand times, for I was a mischievous 
boy, naturally, and utterly spoiled, but on this occasion 
I was innocent. There was some disturbance at meal- 
time, Lutz presiding, because Wickham was absent. 
Lutz got angry, made a dab in the direction, lit on me, 
and I was disgraced. What is more, he never would 
listen to reason, nor acknowledge that he was wrong. 
We had an explanation, and I was restored to favor, 
but I do not think we were ever as good friends as before. 
Fortunately this occurred a short time before I left. It 
rankled. I felt like a good soldier who, near the close 
of his term of enlistment, loses a chevron through the 
fault of another. 

Nevertheless, Lutz was an excellent man. I owe an 
immense deal to him; he made a little man of me. He 
had cultivated my memory. I had not a forgetting 
disposition then, and in that respect I have not changed. 
He led us in gymnastics, he led us in our marches, 
which were very long and laborious, often at a double- 



110 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

quick; he mingled with our games, rewarding manliness, 
and exciting it. I believe he singled me out for favor 
on account of the tearless manner in which I stood pain, 
like an Indian. He shared our little feasts, simple but 
appetizing, and did not spare his money to procure 
apparatus for the finest experiments in natural 
philosophy and astronomy. 

I forgot to mention that he taught us surveying also, 
and, before I was ten, I could survey a piece of land 
as well as one-half of the civil engineers who make a 
living by it. 

Forty years after I had lost sight of him, I heard of 
him in Indiana. His name had been changed to that 
of John Lutz Mansfield. He had been professor in 
Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky, then 
acting President, had married, changed his name, moved 
to Indiana, become Major-General in the militia, and 
had a son, a Colonel in the Union Army during the 
Eebellion; and there I lost sight of him. I repeat, 
again, he was a wonderful man. 

Next to him came Mr. Sayres. I never liked him, 
but he was a good man, brave as a lion, and he and 
Lutz were always rivals in gymnastics and gymnastic 
experiments. It appears to me that he was our head 
English teacher, but I do not think he had an agreeable 
disposition, and I do not believe that I owe much to 
him, except the respect due to true manhood. 

Besides these, there was a succession of teachers of 
Spanish, French, Writing, Speaking, and even Singing. 
One queer old gentleman, who taught us Elocution, I 
encountered, still at it, within a very short time. If all 
the successive classes he has taught tormented him as 
much as we did, and profited as little by his lessons, 
he has not had an agreeable life. 



CHAPTER XIII 

AT THE WATTS ESTATE 

The summer holidays of my first year at Washington 
Institute, if I am not mistaken as to the year, constitute 
a marked epoch in my life. I have said that my grand- 
father owned lands in a great many counties of this 
State, hut, for some one reason or another, he seemed 
to regard those in Chenango County as most worthy of 
his personal attention. His headquarters were at a 
cottage or farmhouse which he owned, about one mile 
north of Sherburne. It had no pretensions, but was 
very comfortable, standing on an elevation overlooking 
a very pretty stream worthy its title, "Handsome 
Brook," and a flat valley, about a mile broad, bounded 
by hills grown with primeval woods. The enormous 
hemlocks have chiefly impressed themselves. 

From the front stoop the lawn sloped rapidly to a 
ha-ha surmounted by a low picket fence. The latter 
could not be forgotten, because a fine sorrel colt, 
belonging to my father, attempted to jump it, missed 
his leap, fell on it, and ran one of the small square 
pickets deep into his chest. The wound was ugly, but 
tlie animal subsequently recovered and brought a good 
price. This ha-ha bounded a road to the west; on the 
otlier side was a zig-zag rail fence. Thence the bank 
plunged down into "Handsome Brook." 

I could never forget the lay of this ground. Shortly 
after our arrival (the journey thither will be next 
described) a craft was constructed for me, the first which 
had ever broken the virgin surface of Handsome Brook. 
It was the supreme effort of the combined genius of a 
native carpenter, my excellent father, and a vast council 
of people who had seen boats of all kinds, as well as 
canoes and other floating barbarous constructions. It 



112 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

was flat-bottomed, because the bottom was composed of 
a single plank, with sides, each a single board, steamed 
and sprung, coming nearly together at the bow, and 
broadly apart at the stern. It was a treacherous craft — • 
it is a wonder they ever trusted this little chap alone 
in it — and was propelled by paddles ; native science could 
not construct oars. While it was equal to a sail, its shape 
would not have entitled it to any classification known 
to nautical dictionaries. In tliis I was set afloat, and 
twice came near going to "Davy Jones' Locker;" once, 
by my pitching overboard from it, and once by its 
turning over under me. 

One day I was bowling down Handsome Brook, 
hurried along by a strong freshet, when this craft struck 
a log, carried along by the water but under the surface. 
One end was nearly awash, but the other was deeply 
submerged. I was standing in the extreme bow pad- 
dling, and a neighbor's boy in the stern, doing likewise. 
The shock shot me overboard. I described a parabola, 
and down I went, for I could not swim. When I came 
up, my face being turned to the house, I saw my dear 
old grandfather, with uplifted hands, and my father 
tearing down the slope, and tearing off his coat as he 
came. I had just time to implore assistance from the 
boy cowering down in the bottom of the boat. He was 
near enough to help me, but he was paralyzed with fear, 
for the stern had swept around after it had lost the 
counterpoise of my weight at the bow. 

Down I went again, and the dark brown water closed 
over me. It was not a pleasant bath, because the freshet 
had surcharged the stream with alluvial matter, and it 
was almost like drowning in cold chocolate. Up I came 
the second time, with another appeal in vain to the 
coward in the boat, but I saw my brave father absolutely 
flying over the zig-zag rail fence above the stream. 

I have been nearly drowned several times since, and 
on every other occasion the whole panorama of my life 
passed painfully and vividly before me in the course of 
seconds, the wicked scenes particularly predominant ; but. 





FREDEHIC DE PEYSTER 
Father of General de Peyster 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 113 

in this case, it seemed to me as if my whole thoughts 
were bent on getting help from that boat. I have no 
recollection of counting on my father. A third time I 
went down, and, when I came up again, I have always 
said I was astraddle of the log which knocked me out of 
the boat, which thus kept my head above water. At all 
events as soon as my head showed itself, my father 
threw himself into the water, and, in less time than 
you could say Jack Eobinson, had me ashore. He always 
claimed the whole credit of my preservation. I concede 
it, because he deserves it, but always used to think that 
that log had sometliing to do with it. This I know, 
however, that, having had a chilling at the hands of 
Handsome Brook, I next came near having a warming 
at those of my father. He was clad in some kind of 
fashionable blue-striped Chinese gossamer silk, and his 
bath made it fit so tight to him that he looked in this 
suit as if it constituted a sort of blistered skin. The 
effect was so ludicrous, I burst out laughing, and he 
wanted to thrash me for my want of gratitude for my 
preservation. 

Here an observation occurs to me which I must jot 
down before I forget it, namely, the difference in deport- 
ment between the rich and poor towards each other in 
those days and these present. Then, mechanics and 
farmers had an independent manner which, while it 
asserted their own manhood and self-recognition, never- 
theless exhibited a respect for class position, especially 
if united with acknowledged family preeminence. If 
the last was accompanied by wealth and intellect, the 
respect was more strongly manifested. Still, let dema- 
gogues say what they will, fifty years ago social position 
from birth was admitted. 

I repeat, to emphasize, there was more manliness among 
the people at large, more honest independence. Men 
would not cringe for money as they do now, and then 
spit, so to speak, on the hand of the benefactor. The 
debtor did not look upon his creditor as a blood-thirsty 
tyrant, nor the creditor on the debtor as a victim. 



114 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

There was still a strong tie of good will between land- 
lords and tenants in the rural districts, for the cursed 
foreigner had not come in with his leveling and com- 
munistic ideas, and as yet the money-idolizing, mischief- 
making New Englanders had not acquired their present 
general ascendency. 

I speak of New York, whose political institutions, 
before the Eevolution, formed a comparative feudal 
aristocracy, and this never entirely disappeared until our 
legislators and executives were debauched into legal confis- 
cators through the influence of what is known as anti- 
rentism. A patroon, or great landholder, still retained 
a great deal of his power and influence, if not his actual 
original power, when I accompanied my grandfather in 
his visits to his estates, that is, down to about 1833. It 
was not until my grandfather died, in 1836, and a new 
generation came in, that anti-rentism burst its shell and 
became the deadly poisonous reptile it has proved to be. 
Then it was that ofiicers became more and more generally 
elected, and emigrants flooded in; that judges and 
lawyers, and all who sought poj^ularity, prostituted their 
honor and banded with the many to deprive the few 
of their riglits and the respect due to them. 

One of our next-door neighbors was a well-to-do 
farmer, named Hatch, who owned a first-rate grist-mill 
and a rather primitive saw-mill, supplied by the pond 
in which twice I came near being drowned. Hatch was 
a specimen American, tall and well made, with a hand- 
some face; intelligent, self-reliant, respecting himself, 
winning and compelling respect, honest and ready to 
work. He would do a 'Svhopping" day's work for an 
average day's wages. 

His ox-team was as fine as I have ever seen, deep 
blood bays, without a speck of white. How they would 
"^yank" out an old root or stump, and "snag" out 
a half-decayed log, for one of the enormous bonfires 
they used to build for my amusement ! I have seen 
these oxen settle down on their knees with a fair^ strong, 
even pull, to start a reluctant piece of timber. 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 115 

The miller proper was a regular little nut of an 
Englishman, of the name of Proper. He had been a 
British soldier, perhaps a deserter, but he gloried in 
having fought us at Chippewa, Lundy's Lane, and the 
other stoutly contested battles of the War of 1812-15, 
along the Canadian frontier. He looked every inch a 
soldier and could drill elegantly. How many wordy 
contests and arguments I had with him about these 
engagements ! I was pretty well posted, because my 
uncle George Watts had been prominent in them; like- 
M'ise Major-General Izard, my grandfather's near connec- 
tion, and Colonel, afterwards Major-General, Stephen 
Watts Kearny. Although several of my blood relations 
had taken part upon the other side, I was thoroughly 
patriotic, and oftentimes our bitter talks were as 
indecisive as several of the battles, which both sides 
claimed as glorious victories. 

Halt ! I have got far ahead of my story. 

The question in order is. How did we get to Sher- 
burne? The party went three or four successive 
summers, and each time we took a different road. Once 
by the way of Kattskill, once by the way of Albany, 
and once partly by way of the Erie Canal. One year we 
went up the river in the Lady Clinton safety barge; she 
was towed by a steamer, and took a night and a day to 
go to Albany, or else two days and a night. Either 
way, we slept on board. I find all these routes marked 
on an old map, on which I used to record my journeys. 

The most interesting road was partly or altogether 
along the old Ithaca turnpike, and, young as I was, the 
beauty of the ride struck me forcibly. Grandfather and 
nigger Tom rode in one gig, behind old "Spunk," a 
famous bay horse, who died a glorious death on one of 
these journeys, winning a race of sixteen miles, from 
Cherry Valley to Cooperstown. Father followed in 
another gig with your humble servant. Once or twice 
the cavalcade was augmented by a couple of saddle 
horses, which were ridden in succession by different mem- 
bers of the party. Once or twice, also, we landed at 



116 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Kattskill, then a small, quaint, dead old Dutch village. 
Thence, turning the northern spurs of the Kattskill 
Mountains, we drove to Cairo. 

All along the scenery was glorious, especially in the 
end of September, or beginning of October, when the 
leaves had begun to turn. From Cairo, the county seat 
of Greene County, we made a sweep through the southern 
point of Schoharie into the northern angle of Delaware. 
I remember my attention being called to the fact that 
we were crossing the head waters of the Delaware, a few 
miles below the source of its longest, the west, or 
Mohawk's branch, in Lake Utsayanthe. Otherwise, 
pretty much all that I saw has passed from my memory, 
unless I can refresh it from some old letters. I do 
remember crossing the Susquehanna, and then the Una- 
dilla, just above their junction, and, slip as I was, 
admiring the scenery. On tliis line, we struck the 
Chenango Eiver at Oxford, and thence proceeded due 
north, about fifteen miles, to Shelburne. The Chenango 
is a very tame stream, and we did not hold it in honor, 
because its principal fish were "suckers," which are mean 
to catch and meaner to eat. 

The second route was west from Albany, through 
Duanesberg, Schoharie, Cobbleskill, Cherry Valley, 
Cooperstown, Otsego, Burlington, Garratville, Columbus, 
and then came Sherburne. Somehow or other, we must 
have traveled this road more than once, for the names 
of several of these places are perfect "household words" 
to me. At Schoharie I was astonished to see an elegant 
city carriage, with a complete appropriate turn-out, in 
this then comparatively wild region. Both grandfather 
and father shook their heads, and would not explain its 
appearance there, but I wormed out of some one, perhaps 
out of the gossipy Tom, that it belonged to a New 
Yorker who had been caught cheating at cards, and had 
to go into exile in this out-of-the-way place, where he 
owned some property. Morals were different in those 
days, and if a man was guilty of a dirty trick, even if 
he made money by it, he was sent to Coventry. 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 117 

No one will ever forget old (Fred?) Story, the noted 
tavern-keeper, stage proprietor, and horse dealer at 
Cherry Valley. One year he was boasting of a famous 
gray horse that he had, and challenged grandfather to 
a race across the mountain to Cooperstown. I think the 
gray fell dead on the road, but he died in consequence of 
this day's work. It cost grandfather "Spunk," who had 
been Uncle Stevie's horse, and deserved more mercy. 
"Spunk" died, or was left behind to die. Grandfather 
thus lost his valuable horse by this "hell of a drive," and 
nearly lost his more precious life. The horse he hired 
to take "Spunk's" place ran away with him, and pitched 
into a ditch. 

Cooperstown, on Otsego Lake, is a vivid picture in my 
mind, as I . then saw it. I remember it well, for four 
reasons. 

First, because it was the home of the celebrated Ameri- 
can novelist. Cooper, who married a kinswoman, a near 
relative of my grandfather, and a nearer of my grand- 
mother, Jane de Lancey. 

Second, because on seeing Governor Clarke's enormous 
mansion, near the head of the lake, I wondered how any 
one who had money enough to build such a house, and 
could keep it up in such style as he did, could have been 
insane enough to plant himself in such a region. I 
afterwards was very intimate with his son, at present 
one of the largest landholders and hop growers in the 
State of New York. Grandfather told me a great deal 
about this country, and I used to make notes which must 
be somewhere among my papers, if not destroyed. I 
remember less, because I trusted more to notes than to 
memory, and I have found this to be invariably the 
case, through life, whenever I have done so. 

Third, I once walked the streets with a remarkably 
tame raccoon on my shoulders, and a still more remark- 
able horsehair cap on my head. Father and I had two, 
just alike, and they astonished the country people, whose 
old-fashioned beavers were just as astonishing to me. 
This raccoon was a very wonderful animal. He lived 



118 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

with us for a long while as one of the family, played 
and slept with the dogs on the parlor rug, and was a 
charming pet. We had him a long while and he was a 
universal favorite from kitchen to parlor. 

One night he got loose, killed a chicken, and tasted 
fresh blood, the first in his life, for I got him, a sucking 
baby. From that moment his whole nature changed. He 
became perfectly savage, and my "parients" parted with 
him, to save me from the fate of the chicken. By this 
time he had grown to be an enormous size for his species, 
almost as big as a sprightly cub bear. Throughout life 
I have respected raccoons for his sake. 

Speaking of pets, I must make a confession, not in 
the style of Eousseau's, but equally wicked. During my 
first visit to Sherburne somebody gave me a black squirrel. 
It was the tamest, loveliest, most beautiful pet that a 
little boy ever had, and I was very cruel to it. One day 
it wanted to come out of my pocket, and I pinched its 
poor little nose to make it stay in. When I wanted it 
to come out it was dead, smothered. It was too gentle 
to have said, with the ghosts, which, according to Shakes- 
peare, made his last night and its dreams so terrible to 
Richard III., 

"Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow." 
But my treatment of that squirrel has sat heavy on my 
soul for forty-eight years. 

Fourth, in Cooperstown I saw an extensive general 
training of the old-fashioned "uninformed" militia, as 
some people, ignorantly transposing syllables, used to 
call them, but not altogether without justice. The con- 
cluding evolution was intricate, and on that account 
imposing, but not calculated to inspire respect for the 
warriors who executed it. It was called "hunting the 
fox." A distinguished officer, all lace and buttons, with 
a very tall feather, led off a vast array of armed and 
patriotic citizens, with sfleaming bayonets, in single or 
Indian file, to the sound of martial music. This brave 
leader seemed to constitute himself the spindle of a spiral 
aggregation, until the warriors who had previously been 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 119 

formed around the open square were wound up tight 
around him, like a watch-spring wound up tight. 

I was wondering how they could ever untwist them- 
selves, when this Saul-like commander, with the 
magnificent plume, gave an order, in a voice like Ajax 

defying the thunderholt, and they all sat down in 

each other's laps. The effect was startling. I looked 
up to my father with inquiring eyes. He had been a 
valiant commander likewise, hut even he was impressed. 
He made a gesture of silence and attention. The music 
had ceased. Then I saw that magnificent plume rise, 
like the head of a "Jack in a box" when the spring is 
touched. He gave another order, and around him rose 
that coil of armed men; and as they rose, music's 
voluptuous swell, — or rather voluminous swell, for the 
majority of instruments were drums, — filled the whole air 
with sonorous sounds, and I saw that magnificent plume 
unwinding that coil with the same majesty with which 
it wound it up. 

I looked at my father again. The veteran smiled. I 
say "veteran," because he had sprained his wrist carrying 
dirt to help build the defences of the hills overlooking 
Harlem Plains, in 1812. He smiled, because, like myself, 
he had been engaged in a mental calculation of how that 
multitude of armed men, squatting in each other's laps, 
like niggers in the hold of a slave ship, could ever be 
disentangled again. He smiled, because the mystery 
was solved, and his mind was at ease. 

I followed that magnificent feather home to its 
quarters, with the raccoon, on my shoulders, more 
astonished than I was, if such a thing could be. These 
quarters were a jeweler's shop, with the ceiling too low 
for the feather. Through the window, aglow with a 
lamp, for it was before the time of gas, I saw the hero 
of the plume return his sword to its scabbard, with a 
snap that proclaimed to the world that duty had been 
performed and completely. Then, filled with wonder 
at this remarkable display of tactics, which I could never 
find in a book, I returned to the tavern to fill the 



130 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

stomach of myself and my raccoon with whatever we 
could find palatable. 

More than three decades elapsed between my last visit 
to Cooperstown with my grandfather, and my next visit 
vdth my dear Aunt Laight, my mother's sister, and only 
survivor of a generation of ten, Methought, never had 
a place so little changed in such a length of time. I 
recognized many of the spots which had interested me in 
my boyhood, while at Sherburne. But I was as much 
a stranger as Rip Van Winkle when he returned to 
Kattskill after his sleep of twenty years. 

At Columbus, our last halt before reaching our destina- 
tion, I saw an "officers' training." It was such a perfect 
contrast to the one I have previously described that 
it made me believe that something might be made out of 
the militia. The cavalry uniforms present were really 
beautiful, and, from what I have learned since, must 
have been imitated from the English service. Scarlet 
coats, faced with black velvet, richly trimmed with lace, 
white pantaloons ( ?), with heavy leather helmets, 
trimmed and crested with bearskin, tall white feathers 
tipped with red, and an abundance of horsehair down the 
back. 

If the cavalry were strikingly elegant, the riflemen were 
equally jaunty. 

I forget the rural artillery, but it seems to me the 
uniform of this arm was like that of the infantry, except 
that the former was trimmed with red and gold, and the 
latter with white and silver. I wore the infantry uniform 
for several years. Many people thought it was very tasty, 
but I thought it was damnably nglj, and cursed Macomb, 
Mapes & Company for its concoction. All the foot, 
then, wore those fearfully heavy and ugly bell-crowned 
leather hats, which were not as yet styled Sliakos. I 
tliink the infantry sported black feathers tipped with 
red, and the artillery red feathers tipped with black, 
but I won't be sure. 

I afterwards saw a general training at Sherburne. 
It was an event for such a village. The crowd was 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 121 

enormous. The cavalry, as ever, were splendid, wherever 
I saw them in the rural districts; well mounted, good 
riders, elegantly dressed, and performing whatever they 
undertook with a precision of which the New York City 
horse was incapable. Then the riflemen — were they not 
called Bucktails in Western New York, as a rule wearing 
them instead of feathers? — were appropriately dressed in 
dark green ( ?) ; well drilled, and capital marksmen. 

I can always call up before my vision the cavalry with 
admiration, and the riflemen with solid pleasure ; whereas 
the infantry and artillery in the country are always 
blurred in my memory. Those in New York City I saw 
so often that each arm, and each variety of uniform, is 
as present to my recollection as if I were inspecting them 
now. 

A great many things of interest occurred to me at 
Sherburne. The first year the horses in general were 
at my command. The next year I had a horse of my 
own, and I had a gun. I was told that originally it had 
been in the wars. The barrel was beautifully inlaid with 
silver, and it had been shortened to transmute it from an 
instrument of war into a 'T3irding piece.'' It had a 
flint lock, and many a flash in the pan developed in my 
little mind a custom of objurgation which, then, I 
reserved for private opportunities, but indulged in 
publicly at a riper age. 

A local gunsmith had introduced a percussion lock, 
with a fulminating pea instead of a cap, something like 
the principle adopted in the Austrian army upon the 
suppression of the flint-lock. This did not answer my 
expectations, and it was again changed for the regular 
percussion hammer and cap. Eestocked, but with the 
old lock, barrel, and mountings, this gun stands within 
grasp while I write, and it carries a great deal better 
and farther than many modern and more pretentious 
pieces. 

Some of the happiest hours of my life were passed 
at Sherburne. I had a horse and rode and drove where 
I chose. I was trusted. I had some narrow escapes, but 



123 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

they taught me how to take care of myself. I had a 
gun, and a companion, generally a good deal older than 
myself, and I roamed through the primeval forests, 
filling my game bag with a variety of birds which were 
then common, but now so uncommon as to be rare 
visitors to the same region. Partridges were plenty, and 
almost every kind of feathered game abounded; and, as 
for wild pigeons, they came in flocks sufficiently large to 
remind a reader of the description of them in Cooper's 
"Leather-Stocking." 

Although the forests were still spacious, wild, and 
almost as desert as at the end of the previous century, 
deer no longer harbored in them. I was told that there 
were deer still to be found off to the northwest, tow.ards 
Chitteningo Point. Nearly fifty years afterwards I went 
up to Chittenango Falls, and they laughed at me for my 
pronunciation, when an old settler remarked that I was 
the one who had a right to laugh, for many years ago 
everybody said Chitteningo. What place was designated 
as the Point, I do not know. I went a-fishing, and was 
rewarded with full creels. Boys are not usually choice 
in their "catch," but often, while our party was angling 
for common prey, we caught magnificent trout with worm 
bait and primitive apparatus, in the most unexpected 
places. 

One of my constant comrades was a youth or young 
man who could cut off a partridge's head with a single 
ball, and bring down a squirrel without breaking the 
skin, except sometimes that of .the head. He liad a 
tame crow, which was so much attached to him that he 
had to lock him up whenever he went out, to prevent 
the crow's accompanying him, perched on his shoulder. 

As stated, my grandfather's cottage was on a hill, and 
the owner of the crow lived on the opposite side of the 
valley or plain. One day, when he was over at our 
house, my father asked him what was the reason he 
kept all the time in the shadow of a tree. "To keep 
out of sight of that darned crow," he replied. "I thought 
I had locked him up securely, but there he is on the 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 123 

fence looking out for me, and if he gets sight of me he'll 
be over here in less than no time. While I keep behind 
this tree he can't see me, although I see him." 

Boy like, I insisted on the experiment being tried. 
The young man stepped out into clear view, and, in 
almost as short a time as it has taken to pen this story, 
the crow was perched upon his shoulder, evincing every 
possible manifestation of delight at having found his 
master again. I do not recollect if this crow could talk, 
but there were some pet crows around that could talk, 
for tame crows were quite a feature in the region. 

Let me reflect, how much soever I will, the occurrences 
of three summer visits to Sherburne are commingled in 
the picture of the happiest memories passing through 
my mind as I write. 

One of our pets was a bald-headed eagle. Captured 
when just beginning to fly, he soon grew into one of 
the noblest specimens. With one wing cut, he used to 
remain around the house and carry on a truceless row 
of screams and barks with my French poodle. Sometimes 
he would get across the brook, and then I used to go 
to drive him home, for I soon learned to manage him by 
means of a long pole with broad prongs at the end. I 
would set "Fanny" at him. This would attract his 
attention. Then I would get the prong, from behind, 
under his wings and force him homewards by a series of 
hops or bounds. Once in a while he would take to the 
water and flop or flap himself across quicker than Flora, 
a woolly Leander, could swim in pursuit. 

We brought him to New York, sent him out to Bloom- 
ingdale, and there he stayed till the patience of my 
grandfather de Peyster, equal to that of Job, could stand 
the destruction of his poultry no longer. The eagle's 
favorite perch was the top of the pump. I used to 
make long trains of corn from different points thither. 
Hissing the geese, quacking the ducks, and clucking the 
chickens, they would stream hitherward, gladly picking 
up the scattered golden grains, until a dense multitude 
of poultry would encompass the pump. 



124 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

Aloft Aquila would sit, as if carved out of wood, with 
his head turned directly sternwards, as only eagles can, 
resting on his back and almost hidden in the tufts 
of feathers at the base of his wings. Bald-head was not 
asleep; he was only playing 'possum. Suddenly, with 
a scream, such as only eagles can give, he would drop 
into that mass of poultry, strike down a gander lifeless 
with one blow of his beak, and walk ofE with a rooster 
in one, and a drake in another claw, as if he was shod 
with the living boots children read of in Fairy Tales, 
that uttered voices as they went. 

One day he got tired of poultry. The nigger washer-, 
woman had a little nigger boy. This nigger boy had 
been warned against the eagle, but upon him, like all 
boys, especially nigger boys, instruction had been wasted. 
Perhaps he had a boat, and wanted to sail it in the 
horse-trough, but, whatever he desired to do, he wished 
to go to the pump, and there he got what he certainly 
did not desire to have. Bald-head saw him coming and 
sat as still as one of the sculptured eagles over my 
ancestral gate-posts, and, when nigger boy stooped to the 
trough, he swooped upon him with a scream which was 
fortunately echoed by the child, for it roused the people. 

Poor children's clothes are seldom made to fit, for 
they generally inherit the garments of their elders. 
Happily it was the case in this instance. The eagle's 
talons, instead of gathering up little darkey's sable hide, 
only took up a handful of the slack of his trousers. 
More happily it was a nigger, and not a white boy. His 
head was hard. The eagle had only ploughed two or 
three channels through his wool, with the aid of his 
beak, when down charged the infuriated mother with a 
clothes pole. Bald-head was always ready for a fight, 
and her skirts were in ribbons, and her swarthy limbs 
shone, streaked with red, like a fashionable stocking 
pattern, when the men arrived. 

This decided the eagle's fate. The wails of orphaned 
and widowed poultry had been uplifted in vain, but the 
rails of this exasperated colored lady aroused the neigh- 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 125 

borhood. The eagle was given to Uncle Gus. Uncle Gus 
was the commander of a Havre packet. He took the 
eagle to France and presented it to Louis Phillippe. 
The Citizen-King gave him a silver medal, as large as a 
dessert plate, magnificently embossed with the likenesses 
of himself and family, and bestowed the eagle on the 
Jardin des Plantes. As eagles are said to live a hundred 
■years, he may have been eaten during the siege of Paris; 
but as birds grow tough with age, it must have required 
all the skill of an artistic cook to convert him into a dish 
which was not as heavy and painful to digest as a 
German missile. So ends the story of our eagle. 

One of our journeys to Sherburne, I think the last, 
was partly or altogether by the Ithaca mail stage. Stage- 
coaching in those days was quite an institution. The 
drivers took a pride in their work. They drove with a 
dexterity to which Colonel de Lancey Kane's is mere 
child's play. I have seen them jerk their loads through 
roads that would have made the valiant Colonel's hair 
stand on end, and this, too, not on a decorously managed 
hand gallop, but full tilt, full gallop, a half run down 
hill, then swaying, pitching, tumbling the passengers 
around inside like peas in a rattle, and keeping on the 
same gait all along the flat, to win with the -impetus half 
the ensuing hill. Many of the horses were worthy of 
places in city harness, and the drivers looked after their 
condition with as much pride as the proprietors, from 
interested motives. 

How they deteriorated before they entirely went out 
of fashion no one knows better than I, for I had to travel 
a route, for over a hundred miles, which was entirely 
dependent on stage lines as long as the river was frozen. 
Out west, forty-five years ago, I have seen a six-in-hand 
team, worth a pile of money, before a stage-coach loaded 
down like Noah's Ark, and "yanking" it along "smart." 
This, too, over soft roads. And twenty years afterwards 
I saw the mail line, from New York to Albany, drawn 
through the Highlands by such a set of scarecrows that 
they could scarcely drag the mail up the stony pitch 



126 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

rising northwards from Annsville Creek, just above 
Peekskill. I often wondered that an old-fashioned driver, 
who "knew what was what," could ever have brought Ms 
mind to handle the reins over such contrasts to the 
pets of his early Jehuism, 

Finally, what music those drivers would get out of 
their long, simple, tin horns! They would have flayed 
Colonel Kane's guard, as Apollo did Marcyas, if he had 
come tooting around with his primitive tones. The 
stage driver's horn made everything positively cheerful, 
as its music came nearer and nearer, now softened by a 
dip into a hollow, now ringing out as it crested a hill-top, 
until the steaming four-in-hand stopped before the 
welcoming tavern, amid a flourish that made the village 
echo. 

Nor did the driver take two hands to his toot. He 
would jam his whip into the left hand, already crammed 
with reins, jerk his tin horn out of a rough loop by the 
side of his box, and sound a fanfare which Avould have 
put to the blush the very French clarions which blared 
out victory on the heights of the Alma. At the first note, 
how the horses would prick up their ears, lay them back, 
straighten their tails, lay into the harness, and jerk off 
on full trot, or break into a spanking gallop ! Hurrah ! 
Hurrah ! Hurrah ! I see them now ! I can feel it now ; 
my pulses beat responsive to the very thought, quickened 
as if, at this moment, I was perched on the box and 
whisking down the hill into the valley of the Chenango ! 

One of the new structures in Sherburne was an Epis- 
copal church, and while we were there Bishop Hobart 
came on a visitation. He was very intimate with my 
grandfather de Peyster, and, consequently, I had heard 
a great deal about him, but no acquaintance with him in 
New York could afford an idea of his popularity in the 
coimtry. He possessed a great many of those qualities 
which a bishop should have to win success among a 
primitive population. He took with the people in as 
great a degree as he won the partiality of the more 
cultivated classes. It seems to me tliat he was the most 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 137 

popular Episcopal bishop I have ever known, and I have 
known none, intimately, of any other sect. 

Bishop Wainwright was a cultivated man, but unjust 
and partial in clerical matters, a sensuous man, and, to 
me, mildly repulsive. Bishop Potter, of Pennsylvania, 
was an active, able, well-bred, useful supervisor. Bishop 
Cleveland Coxe was charming as a simple clergyman, and 
highly accomplished and capable in literature. Either he 
or his brother was a school-fellow of mine at the Washing- 
ton Institute. Whoever it was, he was author of Saul, 
and he is an exception to a remark I make further on, 
that this school produced no pupil afterwards successful 
in the world, for characteristics that win their way in 
the world are equally valuable for getting ahead in the 
Church. Bishop Whittingham stands highest in my 
opinion, and that in the capacity which gains ground 
through sheer manhood. In the proper time, with 
Romanist belief, he possessed the qualities which might 
have developed into a Hildebrand. 

One more story about Sherburne, and we will have 
to leave the subject with as much regret as I left the 
place. 

My grandfather, as I said, possessed enormous vitality, 
but no health. He was accustomed to sudden, violent 
attacks, which often seemed to be mortal. He had one 
of these at Sherburne. The village practitioner, in 
despair, summoned all the fraternity within reasonable 
driving circuit, to hold a consultation over the case 
of "the Judge." 

Where the carcass is, there the eagles, vultures, or 
crows will be gathered together. They came from every 
quarter of the heavens, or the other place, to be able to 
say that they helped to kill or save the rich New Yorker. 
The row of gigs or sulkies, fastened to the low picket 
fence, was appalling. I know it was so to me and to 
Tom. We held consultations together, watched the 
solemn faces of the medicos, and if they smiled, took 
hope. If they looked solemn, Tom's heart and mine went 
down into our boots. 



128 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Thus these ravens came and went for several days. 
One day they came stringing out with their saddle-bags 
over their arms, and filed off towards Sherburne, about 
a mile distant, to get their dinner. They left behind 
an afflicted household, for they had said "the Judge must 
die.'' They implied that human skill was exhausted, 
and as they were its exponents, the decree was irrevers- 
ible. 

It is said that the Ethiopian cannot change his 
skin, but Tom sat on the front steps looking blue indeed. 
I was awe-struck. 

All at once I heard my grandfather's voice. My father 
came out, and gave an order to Tom. Tom's unearthly 
blue darkened into healthy black, and I rushed in to 
my dear old grandfather, to see him actually taking what 
the country people would persist in calling a "dish of 
tea." As in several previous and subsequent cases, Nature 
had slipped in at the last moment to relieve a digestive 
crisis, and "Richard was himself again." 

Towards sunset the flight of ^sculapian crows 
returned. They first cawed aloud in chorus, and then 
they stuck their bills together and cawed in whispers. 
If a younger brother crow did not look solemn enough, 
the elder brethren rebuked him with an increased solem- 
nity of demeanor. 

Little boy as I was, I watched them with a juvenile 
feeling which, with years, has solidified into a masculine 
certainty. I have a weak dependence on the opinion of 
doctors when those that I love are in peril. When I 
am sick myself, doubt overrides faith. Gay wrote his 
own epitaph, 

"Life's a jest, and all things show it, 
I thought so once, and now I know it." 
Just so of medicine. 

Alluding to Gay's epitaph: after I read it, in West- 
minster Abbey, while traveling in search of a cure for a 
terrible and protracted pain in the head, resulting from 
a fall which broke my nose, I went home, and, influenced, 
doubtless, by my painful experience of life, wrote down 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 129 

these lines of the English poet, and beneath them added 
that life was 

"A bitter practical joke." 

For this my father, who was strictly orthodox, was 
angry enough to cane me. It was not wise, perhaps, to 
be so heterodox on paper, but in after years I found 
that some of the best and wisest men entertained very 
much the same opinions. Fenelon, the celebrated and 
gentle bishop of Cambrae, wrote very analogous ideas in 
his old age — if Voltaire's quotation of the bishop's six 
lines is reliable. The great Frenchman had no reason 
to misquote ; and a number of philosophers have set down 
very much the same deductions. 

Montaigne pronounced "the whole world nothing but 
an endless farce." The author of "Shadows in Outline" 
remarked, "Depend upon it, life is a grim joke;" and 
Wellington, the most practical man that ever lived, on 
more than one occasion expressed his opinion that, 
although he had been one of the most prosperous of 
men, "there is nothing or little in this life worth living 
for." 

As for poor Solomon, if he did write Ecclesiastes, — 
for many modern commentators wish to deprive him of 
the credit of the authorship, — he summed it up as "vanity 
and vexation of spirit." The Germans translate this 
"alles Eitel und Jammer," whose literal interpretation 
is, utter emptiness and wretchedness. Old Campe, in his 
exhaustive dictionary, says that a Jammer look is one 
awakened by the highest grade of suffering; which is 
just the old sardonic laugh, the offspring of a poisonous 
herb in Sardinia, which, under the veil of a facial 
expression resembling laughter, expresses an inward crisis 
of agony which terminates in death. 

But let us look up our crows, for this is a tremendous 
digression. Having cawed in common salutation, and 
having cawed in consultation, the flock encountered Tom, 
another sort of crow, and cawed in simulation. I use 
this word because they veiled the assurance of receiviug 
an answer in accordance with their croaking predictions 



130 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

under the semblance of a desire for good tidings. Tom's 
black face glowed like an ebony image freshly polished. 
"Yah! Yah! Yah! The Judge am in de barn-yard, 
looking at him pigs." And Jim Crow's bad grammar 
scattered the medical crows. 

I was going to leave Sherburne without mentioning 
my grandfather's farmer. He was a character; if Tom 

had a black skin, old Mr. had a black heart, 

judged from the standpoint of orthodox religious senti- 
ment. St. James says, "The devils believe and tremble." 
I will not record my impressions of this gentleman's 
orthodoxy from the basis of St. James. He did believe 
and tremble, but it was at the devil. He had implicit 
faith in a persroral, frequent, bodily manifestation of 
Satan. He had a book, or books, or pamphlets, detailing 
the same; and he did a great deal to cap the climax of 
misery in my juvenile soul, already accumulated therein 
through the unfortunate babblings of my dear old 
Mammie. 

The kitchen had one of those enormous wood fire-places 
which swallowed up a cart-load of wood, nine-tenths of 
the heat of which went up the chimney. Before this, 
when ablaze, the face was roasted, while the back froze. 
When the wood had burned down and become a bed of 

cinders, tempered with ashes, Mr. would light a 

clay pipe and crowd in on one side; Tom, with another 
pipe, on the other side; while I, on a low stool, and no 
pipe, sat drinking in their horrible stories, as they sucked 
in the blessings of the tobacco. The hard-featured white 
man had enough of the devil in him to feel a grim 
defiance of the devil while his health and strength 
endured. 

Tom was a timorous nigger, and he used to sit with 
eyes starting out of his head, and big as saucers, ventur- 
ing timid corroborations of his white brother's horrible 
lies ; meanwhile I used to drink in all this nonsense, until, 
if it had not been for sheer pride of superior intellect, 
position, and white blood, before that unmanned nigger, 
my knees would have knocked audibly together as I 



AT THE WATTS ESTATE 131 

stole away to bed. After one of these seances I believe 
Tom did not go to bed at all, but, as the ashes grew 
cold, shivered in his corner, fearful of leaving the protec- 
tion of the household fairies, or penates, which even a 
nigger's mythology recognized as protecting and presiding 
over the household hearth. 

Besides diabolical stories, this horrible old man 
was as great on the subject of ghosts. I would have 
felt much more comfortable at night, and around 
churchyards, if I had known Infantry General W. P. 
Wainwright then. He says that he used to believe in 
ghosts in his younger days, but was cured by Jeremy 
Bentham's logic, viz. : "There might be ghosts of bodies, 
but how about the ghosts of breeches and garments in 
general ?" 

If I had told my father one-hundredth part of what 
occurred in that kitchen, I believe he would have broken 
old 's skeleton into as many pieces as the frag- 
ments of a clay pipe under an infuriated heel. As for 
Tom, I wouldn't have given much for his carcass after 
a revelation. I never peached, but I declare that the 
superstitious nonsense instilled into my boyish mind cast 
long attenuated shadows over my whole life, and, despite 
the critical acuteness of my strong intellect, their poison 
is not entirely neutralized, under peculiar circumstances, 

even now that my hair is gray. As an illustration, 

had a pamphlet with a frontispiece depicting the devil — 
horns, hoof and tail — as he appeared to a lot of gamblers 
on Sunday, and, according to text, twisted their necks. 
I think Tom's feelings were hurt by this representation, 
for the printer's ink, and dirt, made him and the devil 
one color. 

Strange to say, I remember no other figure in this 
kitchen distinctly, and yet it seems to me that the farmer 
had a wife, who stole around with bated breath, and 
was completely "under his 'cow.' " Some one made 
first-rate griddle cakes, for those I do remember. How 
my father could have been blind, through all the perverse 
influences acting upon me, I cannot now conceive. If 



132 JOHN" WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

ever there was a brave, manly man created, it was he, 
and yet he allowed me to remain in such a mire until 
it required an immense amount of moral washing to 
get off the stains. 

Some natures are inaccessible to such villainous non- 
sense. It sheds from their common sense as water from 
a duck's back. Others take it in as the shower is absorbed 
by a sandy soil, and hold it in everlasting suspense, like 
such a soil, with a strata of hard pan below. For 
iu stance, my foster sister, Beppy, was no more affected, 
to appearance, by Mammie's ridiculous tales and tradi- 
tions, than an apostle by the superstitious doctrines of 
the worshippers of Obi or Bogi that he has set out to 
convert. Life is a mystery; the human mind a greater. 
Acute intellects develop in the same atmosphere in which 
mediocrity also flourishes, in the same way that grand 
oaks grow luxuriantly in swamp land congenial to the 
brashiest wood. 



CHAPTEE XIV 

MORE SCHOOL DAYS 

After every glorious summer trip to Chenango County 
I returned in the late fall to the "Washington Institute/' 
and oh, with what intense regret I chafed under its mild 
but healthy discipline, while fresh from the utter freedom 
of the field, forest, and stream ! 

Endowed with an active, inquiring, grasping, in some 
respects devouring, omnivorous mind, I learned a great 
deal, but I am sorry to say I was neither taught by wise 
method, nor did I hive my store methodically. I rushed 
into Latin from pride; was admitted at my own request, 
and, too young to appreciate what I learned, took a 
disgust to it. 

And yet, strange to say, although subsequently I liked 
my Greek lessons best, Greek, like Spanish, which I after- 
wards studied, has almost become as if it had never been ; 
whereas, at early middle age, my Latin came back 
sufficiently to be eminently useful. Here let me say, of 
all the dead and living languages, of which I know 
more or less, Greek has my appreciation for its superior 
beauty, but I fairly love the German, and deem it more 
expressive than the ordinary diluted English of to-day. 

One of the faculty of this Institute was Mr. Theodore 
A. Fay, afterwards a noted writer. Secretary of Legation 
at Berlin in 1851-2, and Minister to Switzerland at a 
much later date. Strange to say, I never came personally 
in contact with him, then or since, although I have worn 
his military hat on our little theatrical stage, and played 
Eolla or Pizarro in it. I say "military hat,'' because he 
belonged to some military organization in the city, and 
we rummaged out part of his uniform, and "conveyed 
them," to use Shakespeare's word. Afterwards, when, as 
Military Agent, I was in Europe, in search of useful 
information to embody in my report, I had a corre- 

133 



134 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Bpondence with him, and am indebted to him for some 
exquisite drawings, for the elucidation of that portion of 
my report relative to the Berlin Fire Department. 

This allusion revives the consideration of our theatre. 
We did some plays remarkably well, despite incongruous 
habiliments and wooden scabbardless swords. Sometimes 
ludicrous incidents occurred; and once a dramatic 
struggle nearly degenerated into a fisticuff set-to, Tom 
Hughes had borrowed a pair of white gloves from one 
of our chambermaids. He was a gawky fellow, much 
bigger than myself, and had had difficulty in getting his 
bulky paws into the kids. In fulfilling my part I had to 
tear off his gloves to disclose a wound or mark on which 
the plot hinged. 

Carried away by the scene, I acted the part to the life, 
and the entity of the glove became a non-entity. There- 
upon, Tom, who was a bully, interpolated language which 
was not in the play, and informed me, so that the 
audience heard it, that as a set-off to the torn glove, I 
should go to bed with a pair of black eyes, because he 
would have to pay the girl for her kids. 

My temper was never very patient, and swords of lath 
would have represented deadly rapiers, on the spot, but 
for intervention, which sadly disarranged the progress of 
the piece. The theatre company and the audience left 
the house to form a ring^ but I believe that Lutz, to 
whom Hughes referred the affair with a blubbering voice, 
decided that, as my grandfather was rich, I ought to 
pay for the gloves, and, as I regarded the word of Lutz 
as law, the affair was settled as he decided. 

I learned to draw, and I learned to paint, and could 
do both quite well for a boy, but everything taught at 
this school was taught without method. I picked up an 
immense amount of information — truly a vast amount — 
but I verily think that the loose way in which it was 
imparted made its acquisition a simple cultivation of 
the memory. 

My friend of subsequent days, Brigadier-General Israel 
Vodges, U. S. A., a marvellous professor, for some time 



MORE SCHOOL DAYS 135 

at West Point, says, "Memory is Attention;" and Dr. 
Maudley, in his "Body and Mind," enunciates opinions 
which amount to pretty much the same thing. Dr. 
Scudder, East Indian Missionary, used to say that 
"Memory was a great box; that everything we ever 
learned went into this box, but that in it some people 
kept things in order so that they could lay hold of what 
they wanted at a minute's notice, while others mixed 
them up higgledy-piggledy, and could hardly ever find 
what was required. Nevertheless, nothing perished; 
everything was there." 

I believe that all we learn is photographed, so to 
speak, in such minute characters, on the tablets of our 
memory, that an ordinary brain is capacious enough to 
contain the negatives accumulated through the longest 
life. An effort of memory is the extrication of one of 
these negatives, and the application of a microscope of 
superhuman power. So that memory is not only an 
effort of attention, to acquire, but of will, to profit by 
the acquisition. 

We certainly were not looked after at this school as 
little boys ought to have been. I could publish revelations 
that would make moral parents' hair stand on end, even 
if as crisp as a negro's. What is more, the exposure 
that I went through doubtless hardened my constitution, 
for I must have had a constitution of iron to outlive 
all I underwent, with a stomach ruined at an early 
age by pampering. How often have I gone with wet 
and half-frozen feet, day after day ; and with wet clothes, 
too. We were inspected, it is true, but the inspections 
were purely superficial. 

Dr. Wickham, Prof. Lutz, and others, our chiefest 
chiefs, knew nothing of the naughtiness that was going 
on. This makes me say there was a want of method 
in the school, and want of method has been the worm in 
the flower and in the fruit of my whole life. 

One of my dearest friends,* the most eminent chief 



•Major-General Andrew Atkinson Humphreys. 



136 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

of the highest scientific department in this country, and, 
taking him all in all, except George H. Thomas, the 
ablest soldier and general of our war, has always said 
that I was one of the most remarkable men, naturally, 
that he ever met; that I had a perfect geometrical mind; 
but that, in the same way that the wicked fairy neutral- 
ized the numberless good gifts of the favoring fairies, 
by one little defect, imparted through her ill will, even 
so I had failed, through want of early discipline. 

I myself can see that this is the principal cause, and 
its effects were magnified by bad health, untrammeled 
freedom as to myself, and an independence of thought 
and will which, in a great measure, like all virtues and 
vices, is hereditary. Or, perhaps, to speak more properly, 
my independence is the result of an amalgam of various 
inherited qualities. 

People say I am conceited, but they are jackasses. 
One of my best friends. Infantry General Wainwright, 
who has been most intimate with me for over forty years, 
has always said, "John is not conceited, but he knows 
what he knows." People who do not know what they 
know, call this conceit. Our Rector says I am a man 
who thinks aloud. Let this all go, however. 

There was no salutary method at the Washington 
Institute. At the next school I went to, there was too 
much false method. 

Neither turned out a pupil who ever attained a 
high position, according to the estimate of competent 
judges. To my knowledge, they turned out two 
wonderful ' original thinkers. "Two of the only twelve 
I ever met," said one of the most remarkable of 
our successful editors, John Swinton, himself an orig- 
inal, if one ever existed. 

A celebrated French author remarks that, out of the 
thirteen hundred millions of men on this planet, there 
are not ten thousand who think for themselves; the rest 
either need, or desire, their thinking to be done for them. 
I belong to the small class, and the results that I have 
worked out for myself, gazing into the vast wood fire of 



MOEE SCHOOL DAYS 137 

ray library, I have found scattered through the works of 
the philosophers of all ages. 

We had a manuscript newspaper at the Washington 
Institute, and I always think it was a great honor that 
my poetical contributions were accepted with avidity. I 
wrote anything but bad rhythm before I was nine, and 
I contributed one or two articles to the "Parlor Maga- 
zine" before I was eleven. I have copies somewhere 
among my papers. Moreover, I inspired some exguisite 
poetry, and one or more of these effusions are to be 
found in the works of Thomas Pickering, one of our 
sweetest native poets, highly celebrated in his day as the 
author of the "Buckwheat Cake." 

While I was at the Washington Institute I witnessed 
a spectacle which scarcely any one will believe could have 
occurred, without interruption by the police, in a city 
so moral as ISTew York was at the time, some forty-five 
years ago. This was a regular old-fashioned English 
"bull-bait." It took place in what was then wide, open 
grounds, having their centre where the granite German 
Savings Bank now stands, at the corner of Fourteenth 
Street and Union Square. 

I have witnessed scenes since, in the rural districts, 
which were simply preludes, and concluded with orgies, 
which I did not witness, in which human beings of both 
sexes participated, which as far transcended this "bull- 
bait" as the tallest oak the pigmy mushroom. Nothing 
could exceed in ferocity the New York exhibition. 

A number of us boys were up on the west sheds, which 
overlooked the present Union Square, when a tremendous 
concourse of human animals came up the Bowery, drag- 
ging along a frantic ox or bull, by means of ropes 
extending about a hundred feet out from each horn, held 
by hundreds of hands. On the sidewalks were scores of 
men, leading bull-dogs. A stake, or swivel-topped iron 
pin, was driven securely into the ground, then one rope 
was cast loose, and the ox or bull left to plunge and tear 
in the centre of a circle a little larger than that of 
which the rope, still attached, constituted the radius. 



138 JOHN" WATTS DE PEYSTEK 

People may ask, how could you see all this so 
distinctly? The roof of the shed was ten or twelve feet 
higher than the playground ; the playground itself, ten 
to twenty feet higher than the street, so that we looked 
down into the ring, as it were, from the top of a tree. 
Our stable roof was at least one-half higher, and I do 
not know but we were on that. 

We saw a number of dogs gored and tossed, but the 
poor bull got no resting spell. No sooner was one dog 
disposed of than another was let loose, until almost worn 
out, with his tongue lolling out of his mouth, a heavy 
dog was set at him, caught him by the tongue, and either 
tore it to pieces, or tore it out altogether. I was fasci- 
nated with horror. This last occurrence made me 
deathly sick, and all that followed is a blank. This 
torture must have lasted for a good deal more than an 
hour, for the days were long, and we got out of school 
early; and it lasted, without interruption, until evening 
closed over the horrid scene. 

I was taken away from the Washington Institute on 
account of my health. They said I got the fever and 
ague there. isTow, I don't believe it ; but I was very glad 
to make others believe it at the time, because I wanted 
to get away from boarding-school. 

My conscience pricks me, when I think of it, 
because, by tacitly following the deceit, I injured Dr. 
Wickham's interests. I remember that he looked very 
reproachfully on me as I left, and dropped some remark, 
intimating that my leaving, as I did, was a poor return 
for the kindness shown me. 

I wish I had left otherwise; but I had some justifi- 
cation. I was homesick. I was the caged bird, pining 
for freedom; I was the pampered pet, longing to get rid 
of the Spartan diet and return to the flesh-pots of Egypt. 
This admission is honest and manly; but where was the 
excuse for the doctors, who played into the hands of 
a little boy, to his detriment, for the benefit of their 
pockets? Mammie Trainque commenced the ruin of my 
health, and doctors completed it. 



MOEE SCHOOL DAYS 139 

I believe that if I had remained in the hands of the 
doctor, I would not have lived to get married; and if 
I had continued to put implicit faith in any one who 
succeeded him, I would never have overcome a single 
one of the maladies which have afflicted me. 

Let the doctors go for the present. Some have made 
me love them, and one or two have inspired the highest 
respect, but, looking back, I do not think that a single, 
solitary one of them has understood my case. Whereas, 
if they had, I am certain that I should not drag through 
so many miserable hours as I have done and do. 

The famous, fortunate Caliph of Cordova, Abb der 
Ehaman III., after a glorious reign of fifty years, could 
only enumerate fourteen days of unalloyed happiness. 
I have lived over fifty-five years, and, since I left the 
"Washington Institute, I do not remember a single day 
of complete health. I have had three-quarter days, half 
days, quarter days, and hours when I shook off disease 
and felt that I could move Olympus, and have actually 
shouted for joy at the unusual relief. 

Health excites me into a condition like intoxication, 
and, if possible, I get into the woods and yell it out. As 
a rule the "black dog," as my ancestral Scotch say, is 
always perched on my shoulders, and his food is black 
bile. I am satisfied that if I could get my liver 
straight, throw aside tobacco, and not take up some 
stimulant as a substitute — as is ordinarily the case — I 
might enjoy a long, green old age. 

In explanation of what I mean, my mother's cousin, 
Anthony Barclay, formerly British Consul, was a great 
wine drinker. He made a trip across the prairies for 
his health, where he could not get wine. He took to 
snuff as a substitute. As soon as he got back, he threw 
away the snuff and resumed his wine. Just so, the 
moment I quit tobacco, I have a terrible craving for 
stimulants and coffee. 

I said I left the Washington Institute on account of 
a slight attack of fever and ague, a molehill, which Dr. 
G S converted into a mountain. 



140 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

There was better reason, but it did not develop itself 
until a year orjwo afterwards. 

I have said that Professor Lutz used to lead us out 
on what the French style "military promenades." On 
one occasion we came across a tremendous tree, whose 
roots had developed to an almost incredible extent in a 
sandy soil. This tree had blown down, and, falling, had 
left behind a deep pit in the sand, so that from the top 
of the roots, in air, to the bottom of the excavation, the 
distance was very great. I have always told the story, 
making it twenty feet, but, looking up as I write to the 
lofty ceiling of my oflBce, I think I must have added five, 
or else I would not be here to tell the story. 

Some of the big boys crawled up on top of these roots 
and stumped the smaller boys to "follow your leader." 
I think I jumped once or twice safely, but, emboldened 
by impunity, I became careless. My pantaloons caught 
in a little dry root, and, instead of landing on my feet, 
I pitched into the soft sand below, and my nose, always 
a prominent feature, lit on a solitary pebble, placed there 
by Fate to receive it. I was picked up, set on my legs, 
and got back to the school — how, I cannot imagine. My 
nose, they say, was broken. 

Big as it was, it disappeared in the swelling of my 
face. The result was continuous headache. Years after- 
wards it broke me down ; I was ordered to Europe. Dr. 
Eoux butchered me in Paris. To create a seton in my 
left arm, he cut a gash which sent the blood out in a 
fountain. I have got a scar which looks like the vestige 
of a grape-shot. The seton, or vigorous youth, or the 
sea voyage and a European trip, relieved me of the 
headaches, but I have never had a healthy nose since. 

Eoux was a famous surgeon, but he was a French 
brute, and a French brute transcends all other brutes, 
just as French nature differ^ from human nature. Dr. 
Hosack, a friend of mine, asked him about a patient on 
whom he had operated. The poor devil died a short time 
after his removal from the operating table. "Oh," said 
Eoux, "he took to religion, and died." 



MOKE SCHOOL DAYS 141 

Eemoved from the Washington Institute, I was placed 
at the fashionable school of the Rev. Mr. Huddart, then 
in full blast in Beaver street. At the Washington Insti- 
tute there was too little method, but human nature. 
Here, there was too much method, and no humanity. 

Mr. Wickham, the principal of Washington Institute, 
was a very good man. In contrast to Mr. Huddart, he 
was an angel. Both were clergymen. Wickham was 
an American, Huddart an Englishman, and the one had 
all the virtues of his race, and the other all the disagree- 
ableness of a Britisher. I cannot recall the Church or 
sect to which the former belonged, but he did not make 
religion repulsive. The latter was a thoroughbred 
Episcopalian, and such brutality and partiality as he 
sometimes evinced, and such temper as he always gave 
way to on slight occasions, would have set any one 
against the religion under which he developed. 

I shall return to this again, but it is impossible to 
refrain from mentioning that he once flogged a boy so 
severely that, by the force of the blows, the works of 
the victim's watch were driven through the outer casing. 
I verily believe he did this for nothing else but to show 
off his authority before a strange teacher. It is a 
wonder the boy did not try to kill him. 

Huddart was a brute. He once locked me up in his 
study to await an interview. I had a many-bladed 
penknife. I broke every blade, but I cut out the lock, 
got out of a window, and safe off home; nor would I 
return until immunity from punishment was perfectly 
secured. He flourished for a time "like a green bay 
tree," but afterwards came to grief. Let me record my 
opinion of him: he was a bully, a tyrant, and a brute, 
but a very able man, as regards education. 

How different are my recollections of the faculty of 
Washington Institute! 

I must say this much for Huddart: if he was a tiger 
among sheep, and the inquisitor among victims, he was 
a perfect British bull-dog among the gi-ay-hounds, 
poodles, and spaniels, which constitute the bullc of the 



142 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

world. I did learn a great deal in this school; but, if 
I had not broken loose, he would have made me what 
the Jesuits make of their docile pupils — "perinde ac 
cadaver." 

What I had learned at the Washington Institute, he 
fixed, as certain chemicals precipitate and crystallize 
matters susceptible to their influence. I look back to 
my probation with Huddart as a painful apprenticeship 
under a meanly despotic master; and I record it here, as 
the result of manhood's endorsement of youthful experi- 
ence, that the Rev, Mr. Huddart ought to have had just 
such a flogging, repeated periodically, as I saw him once, 
without provocation, inflict on Gore Callender, who was 
big enough, if he had had a soul, to have smashed his 
infernal clerical nose. 

I forgot to say that the double brick dwelling on the 
north side of Beaver street, near Broadway, was occupied 
or owned by my grandfather prior to his purchase of, or 
moving into. No. 3 Broadway. This was afterwards 
Huddart's boarding-school. The carriage entrance and 
way, to the west of it, w^as the playground, and the 
recitation rooms were either within the walls of the old 
stables and carriage house, or else upon their site. 

Huddart's second in command, and classical professor, 
was the famous William Henry Herbert, another 
Englishman; a bad tempered man, bad husband, bad in 
every way; but as full of ability as an egg is of meat. 
After a career wbich has rendered his name celebrated 
for his literary publications, on sporting subjects partic- 
ularly, he committed suicide; and, strange to say, his 
intimate, the brother of one of my dearest friends, 
terminated his life in the same manner. Herbert's wife 
was a pretty, meek, attractive woman, as much of the 
lady in appearance as Herbert was the gentleman. I 
have heard it stated he was one of those 
"Who, be it understood, 
Had left their country for their country^s good." 

He had done something which he ought not to have 
done; whether absolutely criminal, or profligate, I do 



MOPtE SCHOOL DAYS 143 

not recollect. He was one of the most talented men I 
ever met. A ripe scholar, an elegant draughtsman, an 
accomplished writer, a complete sportsman, a pleasant 
companion; and, with all this, he had a streak of mean- 
ness in him. Boys see deeper into men, and farther 
through them, than the world thinks. He was impli- 
cated in the famous Washington Hotel rumpus, which 

eventuated in a challenge from to Sam Neal; 

and people, at the time, said that he did not evince the 
pluck on this occasion which might have been expected 
from such a self-announced, fire-eating Don. 

It is curious, but my stay at Huddart's has a sort of 
dreamy appearance about it, when I look back upon it. 
I do not remember it with pleasure, and very few of 
those with whom I was even slightly intimate survive. 

My health broke down entirely at Huddart's, in 
consequence of that thump on my nose. The doctors 
ordered me to Europe; and, in charge of my father, and 
in company with my cousin, Phil Kearny, afterwards 
the famous "one-armed de:vil," and "chilled iron" Union 
Major-General, I sailed for Havre in the French packet-' 
ship, "Utica," commanded by mv uncle, Gus de Peyster, 
about the 1st of May, 18314." 



CHAPTER XV 

A TRIP TO EUROPE IN 1834 

If ever a boy felt promoted to manhood by a single 
step, I did when I went aboard ship. I was just 
thirteen, very large for my age — in fact, I got my growth 
at fifteen, and I have never spread, developed, or 
increased in weight since then. I have been a little more 
or less fleshy at different periods, temporarily, but 
whenever I have risen or fallen above or below the mean 
line, I always found myself back to it by some concat- 
ination of circumstances. 

Our passage in the "Utica" was a tedious one. A 
more curious lot of passengers was scarcely ever gathered 
together in one cabin. Among these was a young 
Mexican lieutenant of artillery, who drew very cleverly. 
Among my papers I have some beautiful drawings of 
Mexican artillery, executed by him. Mexico then had 
an army, fine in uniform and equipment, if in nothing 
else. 

I kept a detailed journal of this journey which is 
stowed away somewhere among my multifarious manu- 
scripts. That portion which related to Lombard 
happened to relate to a season of inundations so exactly 
resembling the summer of 1859, that I was enabled to 
explain the mysterious movements of the French and 
Austrian armies, in consequence of tremendous rains, 
such as we had experienced there twenty-four years 
previous. I published a long series of articles on the 
subject in the New York Express, preserved in one of 
my numerous scrap books. 

Another passenger was the eccentric Dr. J. C. Nott, 
of Mobile, Alabama, who made a great reputation as an 
ethnologist and eraniologist. He was a "janius," as 
poor Power, the comedian, used to pronounce it. By the 



A TEIP TO EUROPE IN 1834 145 

way, I knew Power slightly. He was a big-headed, 
rollicking Irishman, but a pleasant-mannered man. He 
looked to me as if he had had the small-pox bad, but 
the meeting, photographed on my memory, was after a 
dinner with a convivial "brother Pat." 

Dr. Nott was a queer little man, and if he was really 
bright, he did not show it in our company. He stag- 
gered people in Europe with his actions and questions. 
At Marseilles he said he was going to the East, that he 
would assume the Turkish dress and habits, and pass 
himself off for a Mohammedan. Dear father innocently 
asked him if he could speak Turkish or Arabic; Nott 
as naively answered, "Not a word." He would have 
been a Yankee jay in Turkish peacock feathers — in both 
cases, the voice revealing the deception. 

On another occasion we found Mr. Hamet, U. S. 
Consul at Naples, who was still there when I went back 
in '53 — "the same old veritable Jacobs" — in a perfect 
state of disgust. "I have had a queer fellow country- 
man here this morning," he said, "one Dr. Nott, of 
Mobile." Nott had been playing the part of the Queen 
of Sheba, and trying him "with hard questions." 
Unfortunately, Hamet was no Solomon. "What do you 
think he asked me?" said Hamet. "Mr. Hamet," said 
Nott, "how many olives will an olive tree bear?" "Just 
think, sir, and he never even mentioned the size of the 
tree !" 

Dr. Nott's son, who was with him, was a regular 
specimen of a Southwestern man of the day. One day 
the ship gave a lurch, threw him across the "poop-deck," 
and when he fetched up, suddenly, the shock jerked a 
tremendous "bowie knife" out of his bosom. It made 
a good deal of talk among our peaceful congregation, 
and we wondered if he thought that in Europe he was 
about to encounter a civilization like that in which he 
had been reared. 

Another queer customer was a schoolmaster, who had 
come out to the United States to teach French, and was 
going back disheartened and disgusted. He spoke some 

10 



146 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

patois French, and was one of those noodles who thought 
it would go down among the savages, with which most 
Europeans believed that the United States was peopled. 
A highly educated lady on board exclaimed, "Heaven 
help the children that creature undertakes to teach !^' 

Uncle Gus took him out, about free, from pity, and 
gave him a short berth, at the extreme stern. He was 
gotten up on the Don Quixote pattern, and if he did not 
pay for his passage in money, he did in suffering. When 
he undoubled out of his "bunk," it was very much like 
unfolding a ruler with a multitude of joints. He said 
he was very grateful to the good captain, but it required 
all his geometry to get into his berth and keep there. 

One day he was unwell and we visited him. His 
enormous long head was braced perpendicularly against 
one end, which his shoulders also touched; his tremen- 
dous long feet were planted fiat against the other; his 
knee-pans touched the bottom of the upper berth, and 
the rest of his body was disposed zig-zag. A berth in 
the stern is lively, even in a calm. He said it was 
unpleasant, that it abraded his sharp angles. The 
expression of his face did not belie his words, and 
certainly his visitors could not dispute with him as to 
the correctness of his remarks. Their truth was too 
apparent. How he stood it was a marvel. 

Here let me remark that Europeans, at this time, 
held the almost universal opinion that the people of the 
United States were black, and many looked upon me as 
an Albino; nor is this error entirely dispelled, even 
to-day, in many localities. 

We landed in Havre on one of the last days of the 
"merrie month of May,'^ or first of "leafy June." What 
a contrast between republican simplicity and royal fuss 
and feathers ! We were boarded by a lot of officials in 
lace and cocked hats, grand enough for field marshals, 
by whom "the smallest favors were gratefully received 
and thankfully acknowledged." 

I have often thought what fools the wisest people are. 
Every traveler knows that all the Continental channel 



A TEIP TO EUROPE IN 1834 147 

ports are tide harbors. We arrived about half ebb, and 
so had to wait for a number of hours, not only for the 
turn of the flood, but until very near high water, before 
we could get into the basin. Meanwhile our consignee 
came off with fruits, delicacies, and fresh butter. The 
butter in France is made without salt, and when good, 
has always been delicious to me. 

Notwithstanding this attention to our creature com- 
forts, and the luxurious living on board, we were so 
mad to get ashore that we crowded into some small 
luggers, at the risk of our lives, were stopped by the 
port authorities, on account of some absurd French 
tiarbor ordinances, and were hardly landed when the 
dear old "Utica" came gliding in, towed by hundreds 
of old women and girls, whose privilege it is, each 
receiving a sou or a double-sou for the service. 

A great many things struck me, as a boy, that I used 
to miss at riper years. As I have often quoted, 
"humans" belong to two classes, "Eyes," and "No-eyes." 
I always ranked with the "Eyes." While I was young, 
I saw farther and more, because my mind was fresh. 
When I grew older, I was too much occupied with 
things, which I deemed of more importance to mark 
many interesting incidents, because they did not affect 
my interests. 

While lying in dock, years afterwards (1853), Captain 
Wotton, of the "Franklin," U. S. steamer, which was 
navigated in a silence, broken only by the short necessary 
orders, called my attention to a French war steamer, 
warping into the basin. "Now watch that craft," said 
AVotton, "and you will find that everyone is bawling at 
once. That is the reason why tbe Celt or Frenchman 
is unfit for a sailor." 

He spoke the truth. A listener would have supposed 
this French vessel was manned by a multitude of 
cliattering baboons. Her decks were a pandemonium of 
voices. 

Mr. James Hamilton, who went out to deliver the 
"Kamschatka," built by his son-in-law, George Schuyler, 



148 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

for the Emperor of Russia, told me that this steamer 
received more damage, hauling into dock in Cronstadt, 
than she had during the whole tempestuous voyage. He 
said the detachment of Eussian sailors, sent on board, 
were just as stupid as brutes, and were treated as such 
by their officers; who atoned for their own ignorance 
by knocking their men about and down with handspikes. 
He said that their inexpertness and barbarism was 
horrible to witness. 

The fact is there has never been but one breed fit for 
sailors on the face of the earth, and that is the conglom- 
erate Theotiscan, styled by the Celt Saxons. This 
embraces the inhabitants of the Scandinavian and 
Cimbric peninsulas; of the coast thence, westward, 
around to Dunkirk, and England proper. What is more, 
strange to say, this race furnishes the best soldiers, and 
the most solid infantry, "the sinews of an army." 

I ought to have included the Americans, and while 
America was still America, our sailors were the kidney 
of the wheat. Kow our ships, like our streets and our 
polling places, are filled with the offscourings of creation 
— many creatures so vile that an Armada might go down, 
and, if the officers were saved, the world would experience 
a relief, 

I will simply, at first, block out my journey, for the 
details are in all my journals. 

From Havre, by diligence, we went to Paris. There I 
took medical advice, and was ordered to the baths of 
Cauterets, in the Pyrenees. One route, thither, by 
diligence again, lay through some of the most interesting 
portions of France. It ran through Orleans, familiar to me 
through my reading about Jeanne d'Arc ; Blois, for the 
murder of the Duke of Guise by Henry III. ; Chambord, 
noted for giving his title to the real Bourbon, the Pre- 
tender, Henry V. ; Amboise, notorious for its massacre of 
French Protestants by the Guises, the prelude to St. Bar- 
tholomew; Tours, in a great measure ruined by the 
revocation of the Edict of Nantes ; Chattellerault, famous 
for giving a French title to the Scotch Eegent, James 



JOHN V.'ATTS DE PEYSTER AT THE AGE OF THIRTEEN 
From a Silhouette taken in Paris in 1834 



A TRIP TO EUEOPE IN 1834 149 

Hamilton, second Earl of Arran, and for its cutlery (I 
bought a knife here, with multitudinous blades, which 
gave me a marvellous delight, only equalled by the pain 
of losing it from a steamboat on the Ehine) ; Poictiers, 
most famous for witnessing one of the greatest defeats 
ever inflicted on the French by the English; Bordeaux, 
the second seaport town of France; Tarbes, Wellington's 
hardest fight, as he stated, where the British again 
whipped the French. 

Finally we reached Cauterets, a neat little mountain 
town in an elevated valley, surrounded by colossal peaks. 
The baths are sulphurous, and I went there to profit by 
them. Although it was the middle of summer, it was 
very cold. The reader will be surprised when I tell 
him that, of all I saw while I was in this savage region, 
nothing struck me so as a gigantic dog, a monster of the 
mighty breed on which the shepherds rely for the defence 
of their flocks against wolves and bears. He was the 
largest canine I ever set my eyes on, far bigger than 
"Sultan," my own St. Bernard, bought in Switzerland, 
who grew to be over forty inches in height. We found 
him near the Lac de Gaube. 

If ever I set foot on Spanish soil, it was this day, 
for the Pont d'Espagne is only six miles from Cauterets, 
and is on the frontier. Here also I saw one of those 
Spanish mules, considered superior to horses, and large 
as any but equine monstrosities. It was a magnificent 
jet-black animal, gaily and richly caparisoned, and 
ridden by a rider worthy his mount. Both seemed out 
of place in this savage mountain solitude, to which the 
dog and his master were congenial — the former watching 
the burrow, in which the latter harbored like a native 
marmot, or an American woodchuck. The only other 
time that I nearly got into Spain was when I was driven, 
in December, 1851, by the tempest, into the Port of 
Palamos, where the absurd Spanish quarantine laws 
would not allow me to go ashore. 

From Cauterets we v»^ent (always by diligence) to 
Toulouse; Carcassonne, one of the most curioiis old 



150 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER, 

places I ever saw; Narbonne, another of the same style; 
Montpelier; Nismes, where I had a severe fit of sickness, 
and dictated my journal to my father, as an amanuensis, 
from my bed; Avignon, a lovely spot, whither I have 
three times returned with pleasure ; Aix-in-Provence, and 
Marseilles, Here we took the steamer, "Henry IV.," 
landed at Genoa, Leghorn, Civita Vecchia, and entered 
Naples early in the morning. 

I was much disappointed in my first sight of Naples, 
its bay, and Mt. Vesuvius, and honestly think that New 
York harbor was as handsome, while it was yet clear of all 
the utilitarian abominations which now disfigure it. 
Then it was very dear to me. Now, if I outlive my 
friends and relatives, New York would be hateful to me, 
for it is a commingling of Dublin, Hamburg, and 
Inferno. We went up Vesuvius, visited Pompeii and 
Herculaneum, exhausted the Neapolitan curiosities, took 
a vetturino, and following the beaten track through 
Capua and Terracina, and the Pontine Marshes, reached 
Eome in the most unhealthy season of the year. 

I enjoyed good health in this old centre, but Phil 
Kearny got, and nearly died of, the Roman fever. I was 
disappointed in Eome, as I was disappointed in Pompeii ; 
and although I had unusual advantages, through Jesuit 
influence, neither then nor afterwards, strange to say, 
did I ever enjoy Eome as some people say that they do. 

Florence is charming. A man must see Vesuvius, but 
really I have been struck with a great many places more 
than Naples or Eome. 

Kearny's illness traversed our plans and changed our 
route. We took a vetturino to Civita Vecchia, and 
steamer, back to Leghorn and Genoa. 

At Genoa we hired a vetturino, and after climbing 
the IMaritime Alps, and getting down upon the plain 
of the Po, we encountered the most tremendous rains 
and inundations. These changed our route several times. 

We were the last carriage allowed to cross the Serivia 
at Tortona. The bridge was already awash, and the 
approaches under water so deep that I have still prints 



A TEIP TO EUROPE IN 1834 151 

and papers, stained with the muddy flood which got into 
our trunks, in the rack on the rear of our carriage. We 
had to dismount, and I had difficulty in making my way 
through the water, which rushed furiously across the 
road. 

On the — th day of November, 1834, aged thirteen 
years and about eight months, I landed from the Liver- 
pool packet, "Virginian," Captain Harris, after a 
pleasant but by no means speedy voyage of about four 
weeks (twenty-seven days). 

Several incidents occurred on this voyage which were 
curious. Among these, a whale took a fancy to our 
ship, and kept such close company with us that I wanted 
to be allowed to fire a shot at it. To this the captain 
objected, because he said that he was afraid that if the 
monster got riled, he might, to use the language of the old 
sea song, "cut a flourish with his tail," and smash things 
up generally. Again, one day, when much farther from 
land than such an appearance would justify, a huge white 
or snow owl came on board, and stayed with us for hours, 
— in fact, so long, he must have quitted us in the darkness. 
Again I wished to try my marksmanship, and again the 
captain objected, not from humanity, but economy. He 
feared that, in consequence of the motion, I might "miss 
the pigeon and hit the crow," i. e., miss the owl and 
blow a hole through his sail, for the bird had perched 
very low and sat blinking at us like Poe's raven. 

The passengers generally were not a set to make much 
impression. They were not, like those who went out 
with us in the "Utica," people of mark. Among the 
latter, I forgot to mention a Mr. Cruger, to whom I shall 
return again. He was a very intelligent man, gave me 
a great deal of information, and his parting gift, 
"Reichard's France," still honors my shelves. 

Among the ladies on board the "Virginian" was a 
Mrs. Brookes — of Troy, I think — who, although a 
martyr to sea-sickness, was one of the loveliest women, 
in body and mind, that I ever encountered. She had a 
pet dog of a peculiar breed, called a "Tea-drinking 



152 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Spaniel," much resembling a King Charles, but smaller 
and more fined down. This animal was so small that 
I once placed him in the mouth of my Saint Bernard, 
'^Sultan," so that nothing but his curling tail, like an 
ostrich feather, remained hanging out on one side, while 
his head, with its enormous protruding eyes and long 
pendulous ears, like Scotch "sporrans," stuck out in 
front. If "Sultan" had closed his jaws, the headless and 
tailless body might have gone down his throat. 

"Sultan" stood forty inches high, and his tawny head, 
with its split nose, peculiar to his own and some sporting 
breeds, had jaws almost like a lion's; and, like a lion, 
he would fell any common dog with a single stroke of 
his paw. He was a tremendous brute, and the contrast 
between him and Mrs. Brookes's "Tea-drinking Spaniel" 
realized the idea that "there is but one step from the 
sublime to the ridiculous." 



CHAPTER XVI 

FROM THIRTEEN TO FIFTEEN. 

I do not think that my trip to Europe did me much 
good, in any way, except in expanding my intelligence. 
I went for my health, and as I never have had much to 
boast of, I think that, in my own, as in thousands of 
other cases, the doctors in New York sent me to those 
abroad to experiment on, because they had exhausted 
their own series of theories. I know I continued to 
suffer for a long while, in consequence of Dr. Roux's 
butcher-practice in Paris, and I carry a scar on my left 
arm, which would pass for the memorial of a minie 
bullet without the necessity of any lying in connection 
with it. 

This voyage made me very self-sufficient, for at this 
day the "grand tower," as our people pronounced "tour," 
was not, as now, an ordinary thing. I used to "swell" 
upon it considerably, until I was taken down, in my 
next school, that of Mr. "Worth, in Franklin street, by 
finding that a fellow pupil had made the "grand tower" 
at an earlier age. This pupil was George Cornell, of 
St. John's Square, who afterwards became one of the 
leading Whig politicians of the State. 

When Washington Hunt ran for Governor, in 1850, 
George was on the ticket for Lieutenant-Governor. 
Hunt won by the "skin of his teeth," and George proved 
that a "miss was as good as a mile." Poor fellow, this 
seemed to be the turning point of his fortune. He lost 
his election ; he afterwards lost his fortune ; and soon 
after lost his life, through a professional visit to Brazil, 
which brought on a fearful disease of the liver. Young 
as he was, he was an able man among the decent men 
who were then elected as candidates. 

We were a gay set of birds at Worth's school, and he 
was about as fit to control us as a ram would be to 

153 



154 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

discipline a pack of young wolves. He might buck us 
over singly, but our teeth were sharp, and his continua- 
tions were lank. Imagine the effect upon a school of 
the late arrival, every morning, of a young buck, 
mounted on his splendid cream-colored horse, followed 
by a dashing darkey on its fellow. That darkey, Charles, 
was a character, in his way, and I must try to do him 
justice hereafter. 

Some of my fellow students at Worth's became very 
prominent men. John Hamilton, of whom I was very 
fond, was an exception. John's brother, Schuyler, after- 
wards was a noted volunteer Major-General. He is a 
very brave man, a highly agreeable man, and a smart 
man. 

Another fellow student was Bob Benson, the most 
comical chap I ever knew. If we did not know and 
wanted to get rid of a lesson, we used to manage it so 
that, with his consent, he was first called up to recite. 
With the gravest face he would make such naturally 
stupid blunders, intentionally, that Worth would get 
into a frenzy of rage. It is a wonder that he did not 
often burst a blood-vessel, or have a fit of apoplexy. 

He would overwhelm Benson with a torrent of abuse, 
which shed off the latter's imperturbability like water 
from a duck's back. Benson would appeal to us as 
witnesses, and protest against Mr. Worth's language and 
temper. He would try to explain, and every explana- 
tion made the matter worse. We would make believe to 
prompt him, he would pretend to misunderstand us, and 
the controversy would go on, increasing in heat, until • 
Worth would own up, whipped, and dismiss the class, 
apologizing to the others for Benson's interfering with 
their progress througli his stupidity. 

Tlien, when Benson saw Worth exhausted with his 
passion, he would insist upon an explanation, ape 
humility, appeal to Worth's better nature, insist upon 
information on the disputed points, until Worth would 
snarl out some kind of regrets for his violence, to get 
rid of Benson's persistent penitence. This scene would 



FEOM THIETEEK TO FIFTEEN" 155 

be repeated several times a week. The class would 
sometimes be ready to burst with suppressed laughter, 
and no stranger, not in tlie secret, could ever have 
believed that any youth could have played his part with 
such consummate address, or any master be taken in 
thus ten times in a month. 

I do not think I profited considerably by my stay at 
this school. While I almost reverence my first teachers, 
at the Washington Institute, I still bear an intense hate 
and loathing to Mr. Huddart, though I acknowledge 
his ability. As for Mr. Worth, I neither look back to 
him with respect nor dislike; he reminds me, with his 
red hair, long white overcoat, and diminutive body, of 
Captain Marryatt's description of Captain Vanslyperkin, 
in "Snarleyow, or the Dog Fiend." 

We had rough play at this school, which was an 
isolated building next or near the French Protestant 
Chapel of the Saint Esprit, southwest corner of Church 
and Leonard streets. There was an alley on the west 
side, I am sure. The school would divide into parties, 
one body would hold the inner end, and the other 
storm the position from the outer. On both sides 
the missiles were stones, brickbats, and equally dangerous 
articles. 

This horse-play went on until, at length, we actually 
broke one or more of the cast iron ornaments on the 
top of the iron railing on the opposite side of Franklin 
street. The next morning the owner appeared in the school 
with the fragments, and told Worth that if he didn't 
care for the damage done to him, he would have to take 
cognizance for the school, for some one would be maimed 
or killed. It is a wonder no one was killed. 

I had the nickname of '']\Iad Jack," of which I was 
very proud, until Benson, who beneath all his assumed 
stupidity possessed an immense fund of dry, sarcastic 
humor, added three letters. Had I not nipped the 
application in the bud, it would have made it anything 
but a complimentary epithet. Nevertheless, my folly 
almost justified his addition, for I often volunteered to 



156 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

lead the storming parties, until, one day, I got a brickbat 
just behind the ear, which converted me into a '^tee-to- 
tum,'' so that my followers thought that I was killed. 
Had it struck two inches above, or below, I should not 
be here dictating my memoirs. 

At this time my dearest friend was not my school- 
fellow. He was Frederic Anthon, and in some respects 
he was one of the noblest and most affectionate of men 
and boys. He was one of the greatest amateur boxers 
who ever lived, and as a boy, and as a man, no antagonist 
that I know of could ever stand up before him. Years 
afterwards, in his prime, he went into the Empire Club 
in Park Kow, and whipped one of the biggest, if not 
the biggest bully of the gang, on his own "dunghill." 

He and I remained bosom friends for many, many 
years. Dear old fellow, how I loved him! Afterwards, 
with all his talents, he became, as is the case so often, 
his own worst enemy, sacrificed his vast capacity, and 
died the last death any one would have dreamed of, in 
connection with him. He was six feet tall, powerfully 
made, and calculated for a leader of men. Why he 
failed, I cannot imagine, unless it must be attributed to 
that which occasioned the disgrace of Cassio. I lost 
sight of him for many years, and finally encountered 
him, fading gradually away, and so far lost to himself 
that he scarcely recognized me. 

How many happy hours I have passed in his company, 
and, like every intimate of my early days, he is dead ! 

His father and mother were the most attached couple 
I have ever met. They were lovers, down to the day that 
death separated them. They had a large family, and not 
one but evinced, in some peculiar way, unusual ability; 
and yet they cannot be said to have prospered as they 
deserved. Charles became a professor, and numisma- 
tician; Henry, the most mischievous l)oy T ever knew, 
a prominent lawyer; John, the youngest, acquired an 
immense influence in the same profession, as a free- 
mason, and in politics. Phil exhibited large capacity in 
literature. 



FEOM THIRTEEN TO FIFTEEN 157 

All the boys, except Charles, are dead, and I think all 
the rest of the family. John Anthon, the father, was 
brother of the celebrated Professor Charles" Anthon, who, 
whatever a few may say against him, was one of the 
manliest of men, and the most learned of Americans. 
He was very kind to me when he had a chance. I liked 
him, living, and I honor him, now that he is dead. I 
have one or two elegant letters from him, in his pecu- 
liarly beautiful handwriting. With all his severity, he 
was always ready to pardon a delinquency in recitation, 
if the cause was a manly one, and its acknowledgment 
truth. 

Another intimate friend was Peter Augustus Jay, a 
perfect specimen of the t5rpical old French nobility — 
pure blood; handsome, well-made, graceful, easy, agree- 
able, and as full of elegant wickedness as an egg is of 
meat. Woman, lovely woman, adored him, and of every 
class; even those to whom King James would have 
applied his remark, in the "Fortunes of Nigel," fell in 
love with him at once. He was a charming fellow; not 
able, but attractive. He married a woman considered 
as handsome as I know he was, but she did not live long. 
He died in Florence, Italy, of what, in those days, was 
said to be a rare disease. 

Gus, in his way, I repeat, was a charming fellow, and 
almost an invariable favorite. 

After my grandfather had lost all his noble sons, 
things went to sixes and sevens in the stable. Nigger 
Tom was not the man to maintain order, and, in place 
of the elegant turnouts which my uncle sported, things 
got mixed. The saddle horses, somehow or other, always 
were up to the mark, but the antediluvian collection of 
vehicles and harness, if they had been kept together until 
this Centennial year, would have made a lover of antiqui- 
ties weep for joy. 

When the noted Dr. David Hosack died, 23d 
December, 1835, my grandfather considered it was 
necessary to go to his funeral with a carriage and pair. 
So Charlie went to work and overhauled the vehicles, 



158 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEK 

stored in confusion worse confounded, in our spacious 
carriage house, and extricated one which he deemed fit 
for the occasion. Its general contour resembled a 
modern "Victoria/^ but as it was mounted in the early 
Eenaissance style of the opening of the century, it was 
somewhat of a curiosity. 

My father, my poor uncle Abraham, and myself once 
made a trip in it, the length of Long Island. After we 
got beyond the reach of civilized ideas, and arrived at 
Patchogue, then in the bosom of the pine barrens, our 
conveyance became a puzzle and a curiosity. Even our 
landlord Eoe's sons were dazzled by it, and a circle of 
professionals gathered round it, full of deference for a 
city equipage. 

My uncle Robert was well known down there, likewise 
his chums. Jack Lawrence, Jerry Stuyvesant, Cum Suis, 
and their preeminent skill in shooting had so impressed 
the natives that, if they had adopted the South Sea 
Island costume, it would hardly have been questioned as 
a fashionable rig. In the Highlands the saying rules, 
"If it is not Bran (the Chief), it is at least Bran's 
brother," and, consequently, the respect due to the head 
of the family must not be wanting to a near kinsman. 
On this principle, Bob's brother, my father, like the king, 
could do no wrong, and his carriage must be the pink 
of fashion. 

Doubtless the vision of this strange four-wheeled 
"conveniency" lingered for decades in the minds of those 
gentle villagers — devoted to raking clams, and using all 
kinds of clams in the appropriate manner — something as 
the legend of strange ships dwelt upon the minds of our 
Indians before the permanent settlement of the country. 

The hubs must have been a foot and a half long, and 
attenuated, and the fifth wheel was long enough to supply 
the loss of one of the fore wheels in case of a smash. 
Then, as to the harness, it was made in the day when 
leather was cheap, horses Avere large, and draughts were 
heavy. Each trace could have furnished material for 
four of the present day, and there was as much stitching 



FROM THIETEEN TO FIFTEEN 159 

upon it as upon an ordinary light set of harness. 

Doubtless the harness belonged to one of my grand- 
father's state carriages, which he brought out from 
England two generations previous, such as were hung 
so high that, from the seat, my Aunt Laight used to say 
they could look into a second story window. My father- 
in-law, John Swift Livingston, had some queer equipages 
still in his stable, when I married, in 1841. One, re- 
splendent with his crest, was styled "Noah's Ark," and 
I think Noah would have recognized the style. 

Charlie unearthed this carriage, and this fossilized 
harness. Whether the head-stalls were wanting, or 
whether, having been made for Leviathans — one pair of 
our traditionary carriage horses, from their size, were 
named Samson and Goliath — and were too large for any 
of the degenerate liorses of the current era, is not 
remembered. But the fact is remembered that he 
selected the most incongruous head-stalls imaginable, and 
my grandfather proceeded to Dr Hosack's funeral, 
charioteered by Charlie in such a manner that, when my 
dear father learned the fact, he lifted up his voice and 
wept — no, sorrowful to relate, he swore. 

The appearance of the Judge at that funeral, with 
the veneration felt for him, must have been exactly like 
the resurrection, in this era of light wagons, of a wagon 
in which our great-grandfathers took the air. 

My father, who stood in awe of my grandfather, shook 
off this feeling, and rose to the occasion. This vehicle 
and this harness disappeared from the sight of men, and 
"Whence it comes, and whither it goes. 
Nobody cares, and nobody knows." 

On one occasion, Pinckney Stewart, my chum — since 
dead, like every other chum of my boyhood — and I, were 
perched on our hen-house, behind the parapet of our 
rear brick wall, on Greenwich street, pelting passers-by 
with hard missiles. The heavy gate closed with a latch, 
and behind it stood Charlie, prepared for action. If an 
exasperated sufferer descended from his horse, or vehicle, 
to desecrate the sacred precincts, and avenge his injured 



160 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

sense of dignity, Charlie was there to administer an 
electric shock, such as Sam Weller administered to the 
scientist who came to investigate the eccentric lights in 
his alley, as described in the Pickwick Papers. 

One horseman, to whom and his steed, we had 
administered several pebbles, after exhausting the vocab- 
ulary of vituperation, without receiving "the gentle 
answer that turneth away wrath,'' dismounted, attached 
his reins to one of the rings in the wall, and prepared 
to enter our fortress. Charley was all ready for him. 
Had he passed the sacred portal he would have got 
"one-two-three" that would have astonished him; unfor- 
tunately, at this moment, Mr. Stewart, senior, came along 
with his wife. 

Class distinctions were still potent in New York. 
Thus, to show disrespect to the premises of Judge Watts, 
excited Mr. Stewart's anger. Mr. Stewart was an irasci- 
ble Scotchman. Every feeling of the dismounted 
horseman had been injured. Pink and I disappeared, 
for language passed which proved, as Shakespeare said, 
"Let Peace ascend to Heaven." We did not witness the 
catastrophe. It was reported that the horseman 
remounted his steed, a wiser if not a better man, and 
Mr. Stewart did not exhibit himself; but he afterwards 
did exhibit his temper to Pinckney, and "Pink" was 
deprived, for some time after, of the benefits of associa- 
tion with Charlie and myself. 

One more little instructive incident; or rather, two. 
My room was in the third story front. I was fond of 
Carolina potatoes. Mammie brought me up some 
which were not cooked to my liking. I opened the 
window, looking on Broadway, and dropped the obnox- 
ious vegetable on the castor of a respectable negro who 
was passing at the time. The aim was good and the 
shock was great. It 'T^onneted" him. 

Soon afterwards I heard a violent ring at the door- 
bell. The violence aroused my grandfather. I slipped 
down stairs and saw a vision of an infuriated negro, 
presenting, with one hand, a dilapidated Carolina 



FEOM THIETEEN TO FIFTEEN 161 

potato, and with the other, a much more dilapidated hat 
Kind words were not exchanged, and then the door 
slammed with a violence which shook the mansion. 
From an adjacent window, I witnessed that negro deliver 
a soliloquy, which, from his gestures, was not in the 
philosophic vein of Hamlet's. 

Another time, in innocent sportiveness, I hit another 
respectable colored gentleman on the top of his head with 
a hair-brush. It is true that a hair-brush is a proper 
thing for the hair, but not when applied perpendicularly 
from a third story window. He objected to the manner, 
and also rang the bell violently. This disturbed my 
grandfather, and I saw another vision of an irate colored 
gentleman gesticulating with my hair-brush. My 
grandfather told him to keep it, and go about his 
business. The idea struck the sufferer as sensible. He 
pocketed the insult and the hair-brush, and departed, and 
like Charles the Twelfth of Sweden, I combed my hair 
with my fingers until my father's wrath was appeased. 
One-thousandth part of our capers, attempted to-day, 
would put a boy in the House of Eefuge. 

One horribly rainy night, when the winter mud was 
ankle deep in Greenwich street, Fred Anthon and I 
attached a cod-line to and inside the bell-knob of Mr. 

, who lived opposite our stable gate. This 

strong line we brought into our yard through a gimlet 
hole in the gate. When the extinguished lights indicated 

that Mr. 's respectable family had retired, we 

pulled the cod-line, and his bell responded. After a 
short delay, a figure in the habiliments of repose, candle 
in hand, revealed itself at the open door, responsive to 
the summons. After waving the candle to and fro 
several times, investigatingly, the door was closed. 
Being charitably disposed, we did not desire that the 
amiable door-opener should catch a cold through a chill. 
Therefore we gave this person ample time to get in bed, 
and warm again, before we renewed the bell-pull. 

This process was repeated several times. If it was 
the same person who opened the door each time, there 
11 



162 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

was evidence that his mood was changed. Irreligious 
language was used, and menaces. Unsophisticated 
people might ask how the cod-line could escape discovery. 
Firstly, it was attached inside the check-plate of the 
knob. Secondly, we knew too much not to slacken it 
out upon the opening of the door. Thirdly, accurate 
investigation, on a winter's night, in a pouring rain, 
with an open candle held by a person in the costume of 
repose, is next to impossible. 

Finally, the master of the house himself appeared, 
equipped for service. He was a stout man and he 
carried a heavy stick. He did discover the cod-line, and 
he started hand over hand, with the determination 
adspice finem, adspice funem. We held on like blazes. 
When we thought that he was about the middle of the 
street, Charles cut the cod-line. Darkness concealed the 
development of the denouement, but if the person who 
had hold of that cod-line belonged to the church, his 
language would have excluded him thenceforward, if the 
deacons had heard it. 

C H , "the son of the house," had 

been a constant companion. His visits ceased; and it 
was whispered around that his father had spoiled a suit 
of clothes by a sudden fall. It seems to me that I was 
reprimanded, and dark hints were thrown out that if 
bells were accidentally rung in the middle of wintry 
nights again, portions of my frame, connected with the 
skull, would ring and be wrung even more violently. 
Whatever occurred, this little sportive jest was not 
repeated. 

I have said that of all the intimate friends of my 
boyhood, not one is left, and not very many of my mere 
acquaintances. In fact, of these I remember at 
present but one, Charles H. de Luze, and it strikes me 
that he is a good deal younger than I am. At his 
father's house I met a Swiss Count, Portalis, from the 
Canton of Neufchatel. His family were royalists, and 
I think he had come out to this country in consequence 
of some diflBculty with the liberals. 



FEOM THIRTEEN TO FIFTEEN 163 

This antagonism has since been renewed several times, 
and finally came to a fight, when those who were inclined 
to the Royal Government of Prussia were forced into 
exile, and Neufchatel became an integral part of Switzer- 
land. As may be imagined, a boy did not take much 
interest in politics, but would be absorbed in Indian 
curiosities, of which a profusion strewed the Count's 
chamber. Indian articles from among the tribes of the 
"far West" were still novelties in New York a half 
century ago, and he had many very valuable ones. He 
was among the first of the European travelers who had 
ventured among the real wild Indians, beyond the 
farthest settlements, west of the Mississippi and the 
Rocky Mountains. 

He was the only man that I ever saw smoke the real 
"Kinnikinnick," or "Killakinnick," or "Indian tobacco," 
which is the dried and prepared bark of a peculiar kind 
of swamp or prairie water willow, with a small portion 
of tobacco intermingled. It was positively delicious — 
far more so than even the famous Latakia, or real 
Turkish tobacco. I have tried in vain, ever since, to 
get some at any price. What is sold as "Kinnikinnick," 
is humbug, and as much the actual article as benzine 
whiskey is the finest Monongahela. 

The interval of nearly two years, between my return 
from Europe and the next great epoch in my life, is 
strangely blank to me, and I think it must have been 
pretty barren of incident. A great part of it was 
devoted to military studies, of which I had always been 
very fond. This taste was developed by my cousin, Phil 
Kearny, afterwards Major-General, U.S.V., killed at 
Chantilly, coming to live with our common grandfather. 
I studied and wrote a great deal on the subject, and 
some of the military maps, plans and drawings, executed 
by me at this time, and in much earlier years, would 
do no discredit to a professional engineer. 

My campaigns against Kearny were carried out on 
scientific principles. Strange to say, "Phil" was 
then, even theoretically, what he always was practi- 



164 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

cally, a dashing soldier. He loved cavalry and he made 
it his principal Arm. In him the Celt predominated, 
and in me the Saxon. I preferred Artillery and 
Infantry, and I wore him out, and honestly I do not 
think he ever beat me in the end. I was a great fellow 
for building entrenchments, arming them with artillery, 
and letting him break his Celtic teeth against the Saxon 
file. 

We fought according to method, reduced to manu- 
script rules, and if any of our generals, during the 
Rebellion, could have applied our crude science to actual 
service, the war would have been more prolific of startling 
and grand results. Phil would have been a "Grant," in 
true military application of the same hammering process. 
He would not have wasted so much life; not because he 
cared for human life, but because he knew the value 
of disciplined life. 

I would have been a "Thomas," with a good deal 
more ugliness, always exerted in accordance with the 
experience which history ofilers, in return for close study. 
For those who know me intimately will avouch that, 
while I am one of the most "orderly disorderly" men 
that ever lived, there is an astonishing amount of method 
in my madness. If I failed, it would have been because 
I never can imagine that antagonists are such fools and 
rogues as my omniverous reading should teach me that 
they are. 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE PASSING OF JOHN WATTS 

In the early summer of 1836, my dear and honored 
grandfather, John Watts, manifested symptoms of the 
disease which in three months terminated fatally. Up 
to this time he had scarcely exhibited any signs of the 
decay consistent with the attainment of the eighty- 
seventh year. His real disease was old age, but the 
technical term was ''ossification of the arteries." His 
limbs became dropsical, and he had to intermit his walks 
and horseback exercise. x\t times he was just as active 
as ever, but I noticed that he used to lie on the sofa 
a great deal in the daytime, which was not his custom. 
Still, I do not believe tliat anyone thought he was going 
to die. 

He had very little faith in doctors, and I wonder that 
they stood his cavalier treatment of them. He changed 
them so often that my memory will not keep track of all 
who appeared and disappeared. A man with $3,000,000 
was a rare bird in those days, and the doctors ate an 
awful amount of "humble pie," in obedience to what I 
have often heard attributed to eccentricity. There never 
\vas a man who had less eccentricity than my grandfather 
"Watts, but if ever a man lived who saw through men 
more clearly than he did, I have yet to meet him. He 
was very rough sometimes, but generally to suppleness 
and hypocrisy. Never, never, never, to the poor ! 

One of the last, who stayed out till the last, was Dr. 
Bibby. I was too young to judge of his ability, and 
as to whether he did any or no good. I suppose that 
the result was inevitable, and the mitigation of suffering 
the extent of the power of the ablest. 

His name brings up a curious anecdote. "Indian 
Hemp" was recommended, but where to get it was the 

165 



166 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

question. Finally some one said it was grown in the 
garden of old Mr. Henry Brevoort, who owned a large 
plot on the east side of Broadway, extending through to 
the Bowery, above Tenth street. Grace church stands 
on part of this ground. Henry Brevoort, his son, was 
one of the most aristocratic of the aristocrats. His 
mother was one of the gentlest, kindest, of primitive 
women, although she was a Langdon, and if that is not 
good blood, there is none in New England. But the 
father was a specimen, pure and simple, of a Dutch 
farmer, or market gardener. 

I never saw him — and I saw him often — except in a 
red flannel shirt, and just such clothes as a well-to-do 
primitive farmer would be likely to wear. Dr. Bibby 
gave me some money, told me to jump into his gig, drive 
up to Brevoort's old low-storied cottage-house on the 
Bowery, tell the owner that I wanted some Indian hemp 
for my grandfather. Judge Watts, use diplomacy if 
necessary, but not return without it. I trotted along 
briskly, roused Mr. Brevoort from a nap, stated my case, 
found no demur, and got the Indian hemp, which he 
dug up with his own hands. 

"How much am I to pay?'^ was then the question. 

"I never sells it,^^ Mr. Brevoort replied, 'Haecause if 
I takes money for Indian hemp, it weakens the vartoo." 
I stated that I was ordered to pay, and we discussed the 
matter, walking across the garden towards the gig, which 
I had left on Broadway. I had made up my mind that 
I had met with a disinterested Christian, had replaced 
the money in my pocket, and had my foot on the gig 
step, when I felt a brawny, sunburnt, freckled hand 
restraining me, and heard these words whispered into 
my ear, "I never sells Indian hemp, for that weakens 
the vartoo, but if I gives it, I never refuses a present." 
I extricated the money confided to me, placed it in the 
expectant hand, hurried home, related my story, and I 
have heard it laughed over a hundred times. 

At this time old Mr. Brevoort was worth, I suppose, 
at least a million of dollars, through the increase of value 



THE PASSING OF JOHN WATTS 167 

in city lots, and yet no one, to look at him, could have 
been made to believe that he did not live off the produce 
of the garden "sarse" grown on his little place. 

I have seen a great many persons die — manly men, 
the manliest of men — without trepidation. I would not 
mean without trepidation if they displayed physical 
symptoms of dread, but kept these to themselves, as far 
as expression in language is concerned. 

I doubt, however, in the majority of cases, if those 
whom I have seen die, actually believed it, even when 
they were dying. Very often the mind is affected, 
benumbed; often, again, thought is entirely paralyzed. 
My two sons. Watts and Frederic, died like perfect 
heroes, but both, suddenly, when the end came. Frederic 
for his age, was the most calmly brave human being that 
I ever witnessed ; and what a difference it makes, between 
dying in the prime of manhood, and extreme old age ! 

My father-in-law, John Swift Livingston, always said 
that he wanted to die as soon as it required an effort to 
live, or as soon as it necessitated a change of his habits. 
When it was necessary for him to undergo a severe regi- 
men and take stated exercise, to get along at all, he 
remarked that, rather than go through what he did, he 
would prefer to die. I believe him. He was the most 
set in his habits of any human being that I ever saw. 
He changed his seat with the sun; scarcely took any 
exercise; was an epicure in everything; and yet he could 
pass from this inaction to extraordinary exertion, such 
as would use up the vast majority of ordinary men, 
without suffering the slightest inconvenience. If ever 
a man was made of iron he was. 

He said to me a few days before he died, "General, 
these women will keep me alive." He alluded to the 
unremitting attentions of his daughters, for never was a 
father more faithfully served by his children. Thus he 
died without fear, for I verily believe that life — through 
breaking up the rules he laid out for himself — bothered 
him; or if this word may not seem respectful enough, 
it became irksome to him. 



168 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEK 

My grandfather Watts died in a very different way, 
but equally like a Stoic. He remarked to me, "I want 
to die, and yet I am not a gladiator." I understood 
this to mean that suffering, affliction, and his last 
disease — which, by effecting the breathing, rendered 
every moment, to say the least, uncomfortable — had 
gradually weaned him from life; but he did not wish to 
die like a human brute, which was about the condition 
of a professional Eoman gladiator. 

He had lost, in mid-life, a lovely and pious wife, and 
he had followed to the tomb a family of as noble sons 
and charming daughters as ever blessed a man. He had 
only three grandchildren, one. General Kearny's sister, 
Susan, comparatively a stranger ; and he had been partly 
compelled by legal advice to make a will which was not 
satisfactory to him. 

I shall always believe that Peter Augustus Jay advised 
him from interested motives. My grandfather desired 
to leave his property to me for my life, and in trust, 
something like an entail. I was to take his name. 
Several trust wills had recently been broken, and Mr. 
Jay made use of this as an argument to induce grand- 
father to admit the two Kearny children to equal 
privileges with myself. 

To prove that my grandfather's heart was wholly 
wrapped up in me, almost his last words were, "Buy 
John a dog." Some time previous he had made me part 
with a dog — deservedly, for the dog had flown at him; 
but, petted as I was, it made me show temper. Eemem- 
bering this, and full of love to me — the only child of his 
favorite Justine — in his last moments he strove to please 
the very lad who had so often rebelled against his 
wisdom. I trust that I have tried to do honor to his 
memory, and if it lives, otherwise tlian through his 
great benevolence, it will survive through the efforts of 
one who can never be sufficiently grateful to one of the 
most sensible, most noble, and most manly of men. 

One incident of his illness I cannot refrain from 
relating. He had relinquished the saddle ; he had ceased 




JOHN WATTS, JUNIOR 



THE PASSING OF JOHN" WATTS 169 

to take his daily walk; he had reluctantly come to recline 
upon a sofa; to desist from waiting upon himself, and, 
finally, as a last resort, remained most of the time in bed. 
One day he said to my father, who was as devoted to 
him as any son, "De Peyster, I must get up and go to 
my desk." From corroborative circumstances my father 
was satisfied that he wanted to do something further 
for me. 

My father said, "Mr. Watts, the doctors say that you 
must not get up; that you cannot." "Cannot?" replied 
my grandfather, as iron in will as my father-in-law was 
in body. "Cannot? We will see." He sat up in bed, 
cast off the cover, threw his limbs out, and, by a supreme 
effort, essayed to stand erect. My father caught him 
as he fell. "De Peyster," was his only remark, "all is 
over." He did not die immediately, but he ceased to 
struggle against the inevitable, with a calm dignity which 
never faltered until the last breath. 

His daughter, Mrs. Laight, my father, his nephew, 
Eobert Watts, Mammie Trainque, and I were with him 
when he died. He passed away so easily that I, with 
my youthful inexperience, did not know when the end 
came. He expired exactly like a patriarch, with his 
mind unclouded to the last, breathing affection so vast 
that it required the full development of my faculties, 
with years, to know how huge it was. 

Without a single iota of the humbug apparent in 
almost every man styled great, I tell you that John 
Watts "was the noblest Eoman of them all." It is impos- 
sible for me to give utterance to the high estimate which 
I have come to place upon my grandfather, and this 
opinion is equally shared by my father. They say that 
no man is a hero to his intimates. He is the only man 
with whom I have ever been intimate on whose life I 
cannot lay my finger, or whole hand, or more, and say, 
in this or that, these or those respects, he was little. 
There are spots on the sun, but if true manliness makes 
a man, there was not a spot on my grandfather, John 
Watts. 



170 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

I now fell into the hands of my father, and never, 
since the earth was created, was there a more marked 
change of policy ^nd administration. That of my grand- 
father had been the steady course of a vast river, moving 
with unruffled volume, direct from its source to the sea — 
the North Eiver, for instance, one of the straightest, if 
not the very straightest, in the world. I have said, 
throughout these memoirs, that my father was one of 
the best of men; but, under my grandfather, he was a 
vice-president, who had mighty few opportunities for 
executive exertion. And now the law made him at once 
supreme, in the double capacity of executor and guardian, 
and simultaneously there was rebellion. 

I had a hard time in some respects, and I do not think 
that father will ever claim that he conquered me. It 
was very much like a rebellion which is characterized by 
great suffering on the part of the rebels, but no crushing 
defeat, in which time, of itself, brings victory. The 
expression, "Time and I against any other two,'^ has 
been attributed to Philip the Second of Spain, and 
Cardinal Mazarin, Prime Minister of France. In my 
case it was Time and I against any other dozen, with 
twenty-one majority in the far vista of humiliation, 
suffering, and contradiction. 

I am afraid I made father very uncomfortable. I 
know he did me — and very sore, sometimes; but it was 
the struggle between Antaeus and Hercules. My 
strength was renewed with every fall, and my father had 
not power to hold me aloft long enough to choke me. 
I do not blame my father, in the least, for anything, 
however severe, that he did; for, before Heaven^ I believe 
that his object was to make me something great, and he 
was only mistaken as to the means. 

I said, or ought to have said, that my grandfather was 
opposed to old Phil Kearny as an executor, but the same 
Mr. Jay told him that he must appoint him. 
• My grandfather's will was one of the noblest that ever 
was made. The bulk of his fortune was divided between 
his three grandchildren, in the proportions of about five 



THE PASSING OF JOHN WATTS 171 

to me, four to General Kearny, and three to Susie. But 
old Kearny managed so that, between him, and the Anti- 
Eent difficulties, and my long minority, which he made 
to bear the expenses of the estate for years, the shares 
eventually turned out about equal. 

Besides this, my grandfather left a large amount of 
real estate to his five surviving nephews and four great- 
nephews — the first, the sons of his gallant brother 
Stephen, who, a little over twenty-one, as Major, 
commanded the "Jolmson Greens," and led the victorious 
way to Oriskany. Four of these nephews were in the 
British service. One, Eoss, a Post-Captain ; one, John, 
a Major; one, Gordon, in the civico-military service; one 
Kobert, in the civil service; and one, Charles, poor 
fellow, too deaf to hold any public position. Of the 
four great-nephews, one was the noted anatomist, Dr. 
Eobert Watts ; one, Eidley, married Miss Sarah Grinnell, 
and was one of the most unselfish and devoted sons that 
ever lived; and two, Alexander and Essex, were both 
afflicted with the incurable "Spanish fever," inertia. 

Had their property been wisely administered it would 
have turned out about double what it did. As it was, 
I suppose the shares averaged $30,000, which was a 
fortune in those days for men who had had nothing. 

The two gentlemen called in to appraise my grand- 
father's estate were Eobert Eeade, my grandfather's 
cousin, and William Lawrence, who lived in Broadway, 
just above the corner of Leonard street, west side, next to 
Contoit's Garden. Both parties passed for men of irre- 
proachable morals, wore white chokers, moved in the best 
society, were considered still, at fifty, most eligible 
matches, and were welcomed, wherever they went, by 
hoping spinsters, as the most desirable catches. 

Eobert Eeade was still a very handsome man, but 
devoted to the care of his health. This care grew out 
of his fear of the gout, which nevertheless caught him 
at last. 

My dear grandfather died on the third of September, 
1836, and was buried in his family vault, in Trinity 



172 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Churchyard, near the original monument to "Don't give 
up the ship," Lawrence, there in the very southwest 
corner. Thither, with the exception of one daughter, 
Mrs. Henry Laight, his entire family had preceded him. 
Towards the west, and near the river wall of the yard, 
my great-uncle, his elder brother, lies buried under a 
large slab. 

This Robert Watts married Mary, eldest daughter of 
Major-General Alexander, of the Continental Army, and 
titular Earl of Stirling. I remember his wife very well. 
She was a little, dignified old lady, who never would 
allow herself to be addressed otherwise than as Lady 
Mary. 

When I was a boy she lived in the old family 
house in Pearl street, north side, near the corner of 
Whitehall, or, more properly speaking, between White- 
hall street and Broad. She was the mother of Dr. John 
Watts, President of the New York College of Physicians 
and Surgeons. I have his life in the shape of an obituary 
or eulogy, bound up in a volume of pamphlets in my 
library. 

His brother Robert was with my grandfather when he 
died. He was as full of wit as it is possible for a man 
to be, but he was still more remarkable as one of those 
men who, after having been a fast liver, past middle age, 
had the will to entirely relinquish every sort of stimu- 
lant. It is true that he suffered the torments of hell 
with the gout. Still, how few are able, even through 
the lessons of suffering, to restrain the appetite ! 

His most excellent son, Ridley, although likewise a 
martyr to the gout, would not yield, but liked a social 
glass once in a while at his own table, even if he did have 
to pay for it. In some respects his life has, conse- 
quently, been a martyrdom. This Ridley was one of 
the truest of men. He married Sarah, daughter of 
Henry Grinnell, of Arctic discovery celebrity. If ever 
there was a copperhead, it was Henry Grinnell; and 
Ridley, to his cost, withstood him to his face, as Paul 
did Peter. 



THE PASSING OF JOHN" WATTS 173 

One day, unable to cope with him in argument, Mr. 
Grinnell shouted out, "You'll go to hell, sir; you'll go 
to hell !" Eidley instantly replied, with his accustomed 
calmness and wit, "I have one strong consolation, Mr. 
Grinnell, which takes the whole sting out of this painful 
remark. This is, that if you are correct, our separation 
will not be long." It took five minutes for Mr. Grinnell 
to get the idea "through his wool," but, when he did, he 
bounced out of the house in a perfect rage, and did not 
return for a long while to encounter such another thrust 
under the short ribs. 

His son, Eobert Grinnell, was a Rebel Major, and not 
only severely wounded, but mutilated. He lost a number 
of bones, not only out of both arms, but both hands, 
and yet he could roll up a Spanish cigarette as rapidly 
and neatly as if he had all his fingers, instead of only 
half the complement. After the war, he drifted down 
into Arkansas, where he or his father owned some land. 
Shortly after his settlement there he returned to the 
North on a visit. 

He said to me one evening, at Ridley's, "General, we 
cannot get a man down in our section who will take the 
Federal iron-clad oath, and so we are destitute of any 
postmaster or any postal conveniences in my vicinity. 
Do you not know some Union soldier who would like to 
go down there and settle and become postmaster?" I 
replied that I would see, and on my return to my country 
place, Rose Hill, near Tivoli, drove out to "Upper Red 
Hook Landing" to find Lieutenant or Captain John 
McGill, a veteran soldier, who, having an adventurous 
disposition, I thought would like to go down to Arkansas. 
I stated the case, he said he was not afraid, and on my 
return to New York I announced to my cousin Ridley 
that I had found a Union soldier who would make a 
postmaster for Major Grinnell in Arkansas. 

"Rid" looked at me in astonishment. "Did you put 
any faith in Grinnell's idea that a Northerner would 
get any show in that region? If you have any regard 
for McGill, don't let him go, for from what the Major 



174 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

says of his neighbors, McGill's term of oflfice would be 
very short, and with the first excuse they would assuredly 
cut his throat." I reported progress, and McGill took 
the hint. He thought he would rather do carpenter's 
work at the North, with a perfect "swallow," than 
exchange for a situation which, with better pay and more 
honor, perhaps, would impair the integrity of his wind- 
pipe. 

I called my place "Eose Hill" after my great grand- 
father's country seat, between 21st street, Broadway, the 
old post road to Boston, about 37th street, and the East 
river. This my great grandfather, John Watts, named 
after the family seat, "Eose Hill," which, when the family 
emigrated to America, was on the outskirts of Edin- 
burgh, Scotland. The quaint old house is still standing, 
but is now in the centre of a populous district of the 
Scottish capital. Mr. Hoffman, a Scotch architect, now 
exercising his profession under the United States 
Government at Washington, got out from home a plan 
of this house, and an account of it, which is among my 
multitudinous papers. 

If my residences ever burn up, what a mass of 
information in regard to the City of New York and its 
history will follow the treasures of papers, pamphlets, 
pictures, public documents, heirlooms, and curiosities 
already swallowed up by the flames ! To my knowledge, 
the Watts family were burned out twice. I witnessed 
the burning of an immense amount of printed and 
written matter. Invaluable papers and heirlooms, 
belonging to the de Peysters, were burnt for kindling by 
servants, who got access to them, where they were 
carelessly stowed in the garret. All that different 
conflagrations spared, of our family silver, was carried 
off by burglars. 

This recalls the magnificent solid mahogany dining 
tables in Grandfather Watts' old house, and ciirious old 
furniture. It was given to poor relatives, and scattered 
to the four winds of heaven, and I would have bought 
it back again at any price if I could have done so. These 



THE PASSING OF JOHN WATTS 175 

dining tables were a curiosity; at least four, perhaps 
six, each so heavy that two persons could scarcely lift 
one. They went together with tenons and mortices, and 
when joined, with their leaves extended, must have 
presented (if five) a surface of thirty feet long, by at 
least five feet broad — sufiicient for 32 guests; if six, 
40 guests. 

My grandfather, John Watts, was born 27th August, 
1749, old style. At the age of twenty-five he was the 
last Eoyal Recorder of the City of New York. Would 
that he, some other, or myself for him, had made some 
notes of his native city in ante-revolutionary times. 
From his bedroom, in his old Pearl street house, he saw 
the outbreak of the terrific conflagration which, on 21st 
September, 1776, laid the better and greater part of 
New York in ruins and ashes. 

A dozen different statements of the origin of this fire 
have been printed and attested. My grandfather never 
seemed to have the slightest doubt of the cause, such as 
he heard it at the time. He said that some of the British 
soldiers went over on Long Island and brought back a 
quantity of chestnut fence rails. They were quartered 
down in Whitehall street, where they kindled a fire, in a 
low pothouse, with the rails, which they were too lazy 
or too drunk to cut to a proper length. They just stuck 
the rails into the fireplace, kindled the end, warmed 
themselves with the blaze, and, between liquor and heat, 
soon went to sleep. 

Any one who has ever burnt dry chestnut knows how 
it snaps and throws out small brands. The fire followed 
the rails out across the hearth into the floor. All the 
old houses were full of draughts; this was peculiarly 
exposed, and it took fire like kindling. The wind was 
from the southwest, which drove the fire towards Pearl 
street, and the flames spread so rapidly that the Watts 
family saved scarcely anything at all. 

My grandfather was of the opinion that the stories 
were true of British soldiers throwing persons, suspected 
of helping on the conflagration, into the flames. He 



176 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

heard the stories then, and there was nothing in them 
inconsistent with the spirit and action of the times. 

Eeferring back to the Eevolution, in which my people 
greatly distinguished themselves in arms, suggests the 
idea that it is better to jot down what I heard to-day 
(10th August, 1876) in connection with the War of 
1812-15, from Col. Henry B. Armstrong, of '^Lower Eed 
Hook." He was a Major of the Fourth Eifles, and after- 
wards Lieut.-Col. First Eifles. He said that prior to 
the war, the single Eifle Battalion wore a green tunic, 
or short frock coat, but when he belonged to this arm, 
it wore a gray coat, like the cadets (at West Point) of 
the present day. They wore a bell-crowned leather cap, 
carried their cartridges in a regular box, had a powder 
horn besides, a mallet to start the ball, which was then 
driven home with an iron ramrod, hollowed at the larger 
end so as not to flatten the bullet, somewhat like the 
ramrods for the original Minie rifles. He says he wore 
a conical leather cap, tapering towards the top, in 
contrast to the bell-crowned leather hats of the privates. 
He said that my uncle, George Watts, First TJ. S. Light 
Dragoons, wore a regular brass helmet, high plume, 
wliite horse-tail, blue bob-tail coat with bell-buttons, 
buckskin breeches and jack boots. 

I think he errs about the helmet, and that George 
wore what was commonly called the Hanoverian dragoon 
helmet. If he did not, to whom did this kind of helmet 
belong, that I found among the curiosities in No. 3 
Broadway, New York City? I blush to say that I cut 
it to pieces with the very broad-sword which constituted 
a portion of the same trophy. 

My cousin Phil, Major-General Kearny, was seven 
years older than I. There is a dispute about when he 
was born. Some say the 2d July, 1815, and some say 
the 1st July, 1814. I guess it must have been 1815, but 
at all events he was of age when my grandfather died, 
and he "launched" at once. His freedom commenced 
simultaneously with my bondage. I have heard that he 
was intended for the Church, but rebelled, because he 



THE PASSING OF JOHN WATTS 177 

wanted to go into the army, and the matter was compro- 
mised by his studying for a lawyer. He would have 
made a blessed clergyman. 

My grandfather had had enough of soldiers in his 
family. His brother Stephen had been mutilated for 
life, just after coming of age, in 1777. George, between 
service and habits contracted in it, had gone to an early 
grave, and Eobert apparently was not bettered. But as 
soon as a man is dead, few respect his wishes; and just 
as soon as Phil could get a commission, he was off to 
join the First Dragoons, of which his uncle, Stephen 
Watts Kearny, was the distinguished Colonel. The 
depot and headquarters were at Jefferson Barracks, near 
St. Louis. There he met Miss Diana Bullet, and 
eventually married her. 

I believe I have honored my grandfather's name, and 
I tried hard to increase what he left me. What I gained 
was gained by care and economy, and what I lost was 
swept away by bad luck, such as overwhelmed wiser 
men than I. 



12 



CHAPTER XVIII 

COLLEGIAN AND VOLUNTEER FIREMAN 

I was prepared for college by Mr. Vermylia, an 
assistant to Professor Charles Anthon, in dear old No. 
3 Broadway, and entered college in the fall of '36. 

Of my class, Freshmen, in Columbia College, few, if 
any, of my more intimate associates survive. Here again, 
I came in contact with George J. Cornell. 

I think I have mentioned that I got my growth when 
I was fifteen years old, and I was so large that I used to 
associate with the Seniors and Juniors as much as I did 
with my own class. Consequently, I have got them all 
mixed up in my mind, and while I remember the men, 
I do not remember their classification. 

Ben Kissam was about the handsomest fellow, of his 
age, that ever took the fancy of a woman. He has since 
become a lawyer, and I have met him at rare intervals; 
but all the coarseness of age cannot destroy the marks 
of his wonderful early manly beauty. The Pythias of 
this Damon was Ben Eomaine, a real nice fellow, but 
nothing like the same exceptional specimen of humanity 
as his friend. Worthington Romaine, the latter's 
brother, is still alive, but Ben was gone at an early date. 

As to physical development, by all odds the most 
remarkable example was Farley or Fairly Clark, in my 
class; and, strange to say, with his '^ull chest," he was 
the first to go with inflammation of the lungs. Zeb. 
Ring, one of the handsomest little fellows that eye ever 
rested on, one of your specimens of elegance, likewise 
left us, among the first, a victim to chest disease — 
consumption caught by exposure at a ball. He was as 
handsome as a picture, and yet he was a good boxer. He 
was one of those men whose dying words are quoted 
as examples of Christian endings, and with his last 

178 



COLLEGIAN— VOLUNTEER FIREMAN 179 

breath he spoke of the "chariots of fire," as in the case 
of Elijah, to bear him to heaven. 

Tom Cooper was another college mate. He was my 
great antagonist in athletic sports, and set us an example 
of wearing "love-locks," like the old English cavaliers. 
This fashion, among those who had perfectly straight 
hair, proved all that the Puritans said about the "unlove- 
liness of love-locks;" and many of us, who ran with 
'"the machine," docked ours into "soap-locks," fire-boy 
or fireman's pattern. 

I lost sight of Tom for a number of years. When I 
last saw him he was at the head of the Institution for 
the Blind, on Eighth avenue. New York City. He lost 
this, obtained a Captain's commission in the volunteers, 
and was killed in the Wilderness in 1864. He was a 
tall and well-made fellow, but there was a streak of 
queer temper in Tom. 

His yoimger brother, Charlie Cooper, was a regular 
dare-devil; a fire-eater in the real sense of the word. I 
forget if he was in college with me, but if not, he was 
with me every day. He went off to Nicaragua with 
Walker, "the gray-eyed man of destiny," and I think he 
was killed there — at all events, I heard so, and we never 
met again. Charlie had some very attractive traits. 
Other college mates were Ogden Hoffman, Jr., after- 
wards United States Judge in California, John Jacob 
Astor, Jr., Lydig Ho3rt, John Knox, Jolm M. Mason 
(Knox's partner), and Judge Alonzo Mimson. 

I certainly did not make the most of my advantages 
in college. The time I ought to have been studying, I 
was running as a Volunteer Fireman with No. 5 Hose 
Carriage. Then again, when I was not with the hose 
carriage, I used to be a great deal among the fancy 
butchers, and from what I saw, Bergh ought to have 
made his appearance thirty years before he did. 

Terrific cruelty was used before beeves were 
slaughtered, and many a poor animal was 'Waited" before 
he was "butchered.'^ And yet, our butchers, as a class, 
aside from their business, were not a bad set of men. 



180 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

They were undoubtedly brutal, but still there was a sort 
of chivalry about their very brutality, totally different 
from the obtuse cruelty or indifference of the same class 
at the present day. 

Nothing ever occurred among them like the barbarism 
I witnessed in an abattoir at Paris. There I saw a 
butcher go into a pen with sheep, throw one deliberately 
down, dislocate its hind legs, cross them and jerk them 
into a knot; do the same by another, then pick up the 
two by the knots thus formed, throw one over each 
shoulder, and carry them off, thus, to the slaughtering 
tub. It made me sick at heart and stomach. Bergh 
would have sent such a savage "up" for three years. 

This was the tip-top tide wave of the New York 
Volunteer Fire Department, when money was spent 
without stint in the decoration of machines and hose 
carriages. The Department had won an immense deal 
of credit in the Great Fire of 1836, which I witnessed 
plainly from the windows of my grandfather's house, 
No. 3 Broadway. 

I was very sick that night, and the doctors would 
not let me go out. Notwithstanding the very severe 
cold, I made my escape into the streets next morning, 
and saw the militia, and the United States troops from 
Governor's Island and the Forts in the Harbor, standing 
guard over the ruins and rescued property. Notwith- 
standing the vast area of flame, I think the burning of 
the old Bowery, which I saw twice consumed, and of 
the Academy of Music, were grander spectacles. 

My father was in the old Park Theatre when it burned 
down, and I witnessed the play of "Brutus/' with two 
Booths in the cast, which was the last night of the 
Winter Garden. The performance could scarcely have 
ceased when the fire kindled, for the building was a 
mass of ruins when the day had well broken. 

In the fire of 1836, the rescue of a child occurred, 
which has always been attributed to the gallantry of a 
volunteer fireman. This claim to the honor of a very 
gallant deed is utterly unfounded. My chum, and ship- 



COLLEGIAN— VOLUNTEER FIEEMAN 181 

mate of after years, Lewis Morris Wilkins, was the real 
hero. He had been a midshipman in the Navy, and had 
been dismissed for one of his larks, which were as 
common as the days. He happened to be passing, heard 
the cry that a child was burning in the upper story of 
a lofty house, mounted a ladder, plunged into the smoke, 
which was already streaked with flame, rescued the child, 
and brought it down uninjured. President Jackson 
reinstated him for this act of heroism, and the Fire 
Department stole the glory for one of themselves. 

I may say that I have seen four phases of the New 
York Fire Department ! With my first remembrance, 
say in 1824, I can recall the rows of leathern buckets, 
regularly disposed and ready for use, on the wide back 
piazza of my grandfather's house. No 3 Broadway. At 
this time many of the engines were exceedingly primi- 
tive, such as are represented on the copy books of my 
boyhood. They formed long lines of engines to the 
rivers, and tried to "flow" or "flood" each other, which 
was a great feather in the cap of the successful company. 
I paid very little attention to the subject at the time, 
but we will count this as phase No. 1. 

Phase No. 2 was when the Department was gorgeous, 
and as yet, as a rule, respectable. This was when I used 
to run "wid de ma-sheen." This was from 1836 to 
1839, and cost me my health. The fatigue, exposure, 
and irregular hours, together with the unavoidable 
"drinks all 'round," and "suppers," any time of the 
night-morning, wrought some disarrangement of semi- 
lunar valves of the heart, and permitted regurgitation 
of the blood. The pain I suffered at times was 
inexpressible. It seemed as if a claw of iron grasped my 
heart and squeezed it. 

At this time I weighed more than I ever did in my 
life, and then leeched seven inches out of my coat in 
one month. I have been, days together, in my wet, half 
frozen or wholly frozen clothes ; and have run, or double- 
quicked — once, a distance estimated at twenty-seven 
miles, in less than twenty-four hours. 



182 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

THe scenes I have witnessed, in this service of wanton 
destruction, unnecessary flooding, frolicking, fighting, 
and bullying, would fill a good many pages, but tend to 
no good. The Volunteer Fire Department lasted a great 
deal longer than it should have been tolerated. 

I first ran with "Hose Carriage 5," whose house was 
in a building where Fireman's Hall now stands, in 
Mercer street, near Prince. I had some words one night 
with Carlisle Norwood, the foreman, an^ went off to 
No. 9 Hose Carriage, in Elizabeth street, near Broome. 
No. 5 had a company of tip-top men in every respect — 
highly respectable. No. 9's company were not such high 
caste, but they were really nicer men to deal with. 

They let me raise a volunteer company, with all the 
privileges and none of the responsibilities of members. 
We wore a fire cap a little different from the others; 
mine hangs up in my library, while I write. It got 
some hard thumps in its day. I was foreman, Gus Jay 
assistant, or one of the members. 

Curious to say, with all my memory, I never was good 
at remembering names, and I scarcely recall those of any 
other members of the company. I meet some of them, 
once in a while, in the streets, but so seldom that I do 
not think that half, at most, can be alive. Still, if I 
do not recall their names, I know that they were very 
pleasant comrades, and many a happy hour we had 
together. 

In 1852 I came back from Europe and made a report 
in favor of a paid fire department, militarily organized, 
with steam engines and fire escapes. I got into quite 
a controversy in the newspapers, and I think I com- 
pletely showed up the volunteer system. I went back 
to Europe to finish my report, and when I came back 
phase No. 3 was developing — steamers and hand-engines, 
intermingled, but all drawn by men. 

Phase No. 4 is our present system, and I claim that, 
if it is due to any man more than those who practically 
administered it, the credit is mine. Doubters, examine 
my report, and go and ask Orison Blunt, who was a 



COLLEGIAN— VOLUNTEEE FIREMAN 183 

leading alderman at the time, and he will tell you how 
I worked. I never had the suaviter-in-mode, and so, 
throughout life, my "thunder" has been stolen, and, 
wherever it was possible, even my empty honor filched. 



CHAPTEE XIX 

EUROPE AGAIN 

The trouble of the heart, of which I have spoken, 
culminated in November or December, 1838. As soon 
as I had recovered a little strength from repeated and 
copious blood-letting, which almost exhausted my young 
life-blood current, I was ordered to Europe, and suffered 
to go alone. No, not all alone, for my faithful pointer 
dog, "Duke," went with me. He was the most intelligent 
animal that I ever saw, although I did not know how 
to value him, and was a hard master to him. He 
deserved what I put up on his monument, 
"My truest friend." 

He was as handsome as a picture, and he could do 
everything but talk. They say animals cannot laugh. 
I have seen him put on a broad grin many a time. 

I was to sail on the 25th January, 1839. On that 
day occurred such a gale as had not occurred on the 
Atlantic coast since the famous gale of 1816. We have 
had nothing like it since. We lived, at the time, in a 
strongly-built two-story house in 12th street, and it 
trembled like an aspen leaf. 

I saw the tin roof torn from a whole row of buildings, 
on University place, between 13th and 14th streets, and 
carried through the air like a sheet of paper. I beheld 
the roof of a building on Fifth avenue lifted many times, 
— beams, planking, everything entire — just as a person 
would lift the lid of a chest half open, and then let it 
fall to again. The roar was terrific, and the damage 
incalculable. 

The same gale occurred about the same day at Liver- 
pool, and swept the ocean, strewing the coast and the 
Atlantic with wrecks. When we got out to England, 
on the 12th February, the shore of the Mersey was 

184 



EUROPE AGAIN 185 

still lined with stranded and shattered hulks. In this 
estuary, where the spring tide rises about twenty-four 
feet, the water did not ebb for twenty-four hours. 
Consequently, the vessels that went ashore were carried 
far beyond the ordinary high water mark. 

Next morning, when the gale had subsided, and I 
drove down to go on board of the "Sheridan," packet 
ship, Wall street, as high as Pearl, was strewn and 
piled with huge blocks of ice, driven on shore by the fury 
of the wind, and left there by the tide. 

Outside the hook, the waves — although the wind had 
shifted to the opposite quarter — were still vaster than 
any that I have seen in mid-Atlantic in the fiercest gale. 

Our run of sixteen days out to Liverpool was a grand 
one for a ship so deeply loaded that her main deck was 
almost awash. High above this was the elevated spar 
deck, for the "Sheridan" belonged to the "Collins 
Dramatic Line," so called because each was named after 
a celebrated actor. Their cabins were under the poop, 
and this was so lofty that it was a common saying that 
one of the Dramatic Line could "lay to" under her poop. 
They had top-gallant forecastles, which were airy and 
well lighted. 

The only trouble was the pitching into a heavy head 
sea; an unusually hard dip would sometimes knock out 
the stoppers of the hawse-holes, and then everything 
woTild be deluged; for what officer of the deck would be 
Christian enough to keep her well off, for an hour or 
so, to provide for the comfort of the sailors? 

Sailors ! bad enough when I first went to sea, in '34, 
but still sprinkled with a little respectability. In 1839 
the best stuff had been skimmed off into the Navy, and 
what was left was little better than "pigswash." 

The afternoon that we sailed, while we were beating 
down the Narrows, I heard a hoarse whisper in my ear, 
"Any man who makes up his mind to be a sailor, and go 
to sea, might as well put on his hat and start for hell." 
I turned around, and recognized, inside of the tarred 
pea-jacket and under the oil-skin eouthwester, my distant 



186 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

kinsman, Lewis Morris Wilkins, whose mother was a 
de Lancey. Lew was a fine specimen of a man — such 
as the Lion-Hearted Eichard said he liked to look upon. 
He was not tall, but, with that exception, he would have 
served as a model. Lew was not orthodox in anything, 
and therefore his language was that of nature. Before 
I left the sea, I was convinced that he put it mildly, 
rather than strongly. 

A flush spar-deck, commencing a little aft the main- 
mast, and ending a little beyond the foremast, served 
as a bridge between the poop and the t'gallant f o'castle — 
so high out of water that, if the bulwarks in the waist 
had not been carried around on a level with the rail, 
forward and aft, the "Sheridan'^ would have resembled 
one of the Spanish Caravels, or Galeases, of the Armada. 
As it was, there being no exterior sign of the depression 
amidships, the ships of the Dramatic Line resembled 
enormous sloops of war. 

A beautiful picture of the "Sheridan," rounding "the 
Eock," at the entrance of Liverpool harbor, painted for 
me by an excellent marine artist, hangs in my library, 
where I am writing. Her commander, my eldest uncle, 
Capt. F. Augustus de Peyster, was one of the most noted 
shipmasters out of the Port of New York. 

My grandfather de Peyster having married another 
wife, while his boys were still young, the little chaps had 
a mighty rough time of it. At five, my father was 
already at boarding-school, and, as for "Gus," he was 
slammed off to sea, as a cabin-boy, when most children 
are still in the nursery. I was sent to boarding-school 
at eight, and that is far too early ; but I believe Abram, 
my youngest uncle, was boarded out at three. So much 
for the tender mercies of a step-mother, and the weakness 
of a newly married husband ! 

Here let me refer to my grandfather de Peyster's 
betrothal. Aaron Burr, Vice-President, who then 
resided at Eichmond Hill, which I afterwards visited, 
when turned into an Italian Opera House, took him in 
his carriage, with four blacks, to visit Nicholas William 



EUROPE AGAIN 187 

Stuyvesant, in the Bowery, who, with Burr, were joint- 
guardians of my grandmother, Helen Hake. 

Uncle Gus has written his memoirs, and a portion of 
them are in the hands of my cousin Maria, but she has 
written me that the most interesting, relating to his 
East Indian experiences, have disappeared. 

He brought out from Borneo, when I was a little boy, 
a monkey, about three feet high, which was certainly as 
intelligent as many negroes. Chief-of-Police Matsell 
told me he was on board my uncle's ship, in the Canton 
river, where he saw this monkey, and that he did things 
that seemed to demonstrate the possession of reason. 

"Jocko" had been taught to splice ropes and tie knots. 
One day a party of Chinese officials had come on board, 
to visit Capt. de Peyster, and were standing in a semi- 
circle, talking to him, when one of the cabin boys made 
signs to the monkey to tie their pigtails together. Now, 
to touch the pigtail of the lowest Chinaman is an insult, 
and imagine the row that ensued, when these haughty 
high-button men started to leave, and fetched up, in 
consequence of the knots tied in their cues. It required 
an immense amount of consular diplomacy to unravel 
the one kind of knot occasioned by the other. 

Jocko walked on his legs, by means of a cane, wore 
"store clothes," and was as amusing as he was gentle 
and affectionate. Our climate killed him, and he was 
given to Scudder, who had him stuffed and placed in 
a prominent position among his curiosities. 

Here also was the skin of the hugest anaconda, brought 
out, or sent from Brazil, by my uncle Abram. 

Even after Barnum had the American Museum, corner 
of Ann street and Broadway, Jocko occupied a post of 
honor — inside, main story, at the head of the entrance 
stairs — and he was burnt with the big turtle, the 
mammoth grizzly, and a host of irreplaceable curiosities, 
when that establishment was burned. 

When scarcely a man in years, Capt. de Peyster was 
selected to command the "Baltimore Clipper," which 
was sent out to carry the final dispatches to our represen- 



188 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

tativGs at Ghent, negotiating the Treaty, or Peac«, of 
1814. To escape the English cruisers, he had to go 
north about Scotland, and had a most perilous but 
successful voyage. 

He was finally selected as Superintendent of the 
Sailors' Snug Harbor, and there he continued until very 
far advanced in life. His physical strength was tremen- 
dous, and he enjoyed excellent health, although I do not 
think there was a single patent medicine, advertised in 
the papers, with which he did not test his stomach, in 
wild attempts to cure imaginary diseases. 

In this extraordinary taste for drugs he never had but 
one equal, old Mrs. Swarthout, widow of a celebrated 
United States Collector in New York. On leaving Mrs. 
Toler's house, in Nineteenth street, where she had been 
staying, she requested to be excused for a few moments, 
and, when she got into the carriage, she said she went 
back and swallowed all the residue remaining in a row 
of vials, because it was wicked to waste so much stuff 
that had cost money. This lady lived to a very advanced 
age, and why, is a marvel, because she was always sick, 
always drenching herself, and always ready with a dose 
for anybody who would listen to her. I believe she took 
as much medicine, while I knew her, as would have 
filled the room in which she lived. 

For a ship loaded so deep, the "Sheridan" made a very 
quick passage, but we had extraordinary weather. In 
the daytime it was often calm, or there was a very 
light breeze, and at night strong favoring gales. A 
great deal of snow fell, accompanied with lightning and 
thunder, as vivid and heavy as is customary in the 
summer season. 

One night the snow came down in such quantities, in 
huge flakes, and consequently moist, that it was abso- 
lutely dangerous to be on deck. It would collect up 
aloft until its own weight broke it loose, and then it 
would sometimes come down in masses, equal to the size 
of a barrel, and strike the deck with a "thud" that made 
things shake. I often wondered how any human being 



EUROPE AGAIN 189 

could get aloft or lay out on the yards in such a state of 
things. And yet we were making sail, and taking in 
sail, and making it again, all night. 

The atmosphere was full of electricity, and we had 
corposants, or whatever they call the lurid fires which 
show themselves aloft at sea, all over the ship — at the 
mast-heads, at the yard-arms, in fact, the extremity of 
every spar — and the ship went careening along, rolling 
so that if her top-mast, stun or studding-sail booms had 
been out, she would have dipped them continually, on 
either side, and all the time she was illuminated as 
if she had been lit up with Bengal lights for a marine 
festival. 

The "Akbar,"' a large ship, sailed a few hours before 
us, and a few days out, when day broke, we sighted her 
about three miles to windward, and ran along on a 
parallel course with her pretty much all day. She looked 
exactly like a perfect toy ship, and just as big as one. 
From morn till afternoon the wind was light, but 
favorable, and we tumbled about on a smooth sea. All 
at once Capt. de Peyster called all hands, and the way 
we shortened sail was a caution. 

Things had scarcely been made snug when the gale 
struck us from the nor^-west, the "Akbar" disappeared, 
our own ship was enveloped in the mist or sleet, which 
the wind brought with it, and in an instant almost, from 
wallowing in a sluggish swell, the "Sheridan" was bowling 
along like a race-horse. There were few other incidents 
of importance on the voyage, and the "Sheridan" made 
her two hundred and forty or sometimes two hundred 
and sixty-eight knots (or sea miles) a day. Once in a 
while she got up to twelve knots an hour, but she was 
too heavily laden, or, more properly speaking, too deep 
by the stern, and dragged too much water after her, 
to keep this up long. 

We had very few passengers; two, that I was most 
with, were Messrs. Pierce and Fontaine, from Mobile, 
going out to Liverpool to establish a house in connection 
with the cotton trade. Pierce was a tall, black-haired, 



190 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

genial man, and Fontaine a rather small, red-haired 
man. Both were rough diamonds — Pierce a regular 
Southerner — and both very agreeable to me. 

Another passenger was an Englislmian, whom 1 shall 
never forget, who realized the idea of Paddy's mother, 
in Lever^s novel, whose religion consisted in taking 
whiskey in her tea. This Briton held the same faith, 
but belonged to another sect, whose tenets substituted 
brandy. In those days passage money covered liquors, 
and he was not a man to throw away any advantage. 

He fortified his coffee at breakfast, he "toted his tod 
neat" at lunch and at dinner, he qualified his tea, and 
he wound up his day's work with cocktails, mixed on 
Father Tom's principle — plenty of sugar, plenty of 
liquor, and then every drop of water you put in spoils 
the drink. The result was that, when he turned in at 
night, it would have taken more than the strongest blast 
of Boreas to wake his innocent slumbers. By the time 
he got to Liverpool, I think the owners had lost money 
by him, in stimulants alone. 

George Cornish, the first officer, who succeeded 
Captain de Peyster in the command of the "Sheridan," 
was a genius and a bully comrade. He said he was an 
American, but if he was born under the "Stars and 
Stripes," it was astraddle of the northeast boundary 
line. Both he and Uncle Gus are dead — Cornish, in his 
prime. George was a fancy man, and, although a prime 
sailor, he dropped the ship as soon as he got ashore. 

He traded in everything, from apples up to summer 
ducks, and from dogs down to potatoes. He was very 
kind to me all his life. He was a pugilist, dog-fighter, 
fox-hunter, in fact "a sport," in the better sense of the 
word, and in mundane things he knew, as St. Paul said 
of spiritual, "when to and when not to abound." He 
was built like a "John Bull," and there was a good 
deal of the "bull" about him. 

He finally gave up the sea, went out to England, 
married a rich widow, and she was too much for him. 
He had only one child, a daughter by a first wife, left 



EUROPE AGAIN 191 

an orphan at an early age, whom he cared for tenderly. 
With the exception of unredeemed red hair, she was 
quite an interesting girl, and made a good wife to a 
sort of kinsman or connection of Captain de Peyster, 
named Eobinson, a fine fellow. 

I once drove Cornish out to see the place where his 
first wife was buried. She died while he was away, and 
was laid in the grounds of the old Eastchester Church. 
It was a bitter winter day, and we struck the venerable 
isolated edifice about nightfall. I don't think I ever 
saw a more dismal spot. It was solitary and gloomy 
enough to make a man shudder. This must have been 
thirty-five years ago, and yet so strongly did that drive 
and that church impress themselves upon me, that the 
other night (10th July, 1876), my kinsman, de Lancey 
Neal, told me that my description of it was perfectly 
correct, after such a lapse of time. 

The life of Capt. Cornish would have furnished the 
materials for a dozen novels. When a youngster he was 
kidnapped, and placed aboard a slaver as a cabin boy. 
His vessel was finally driven ashore by a British cruiser, 
and he had to foot it, along the coast of Africa, for a 
long distance, before he reached a white settlement — I 
think, Sierra Leone. He came near being hung, and, 
it strikes me, only escaped on account of his youth. 

A curious thing happened to him and me in 1842. 
I had a house that year at Yonkers, and was driving 
him into town, one day, in a one-horse wagon, when 
suddenly we smelled smoke. We both had cigars, but 
were so interested in conversation that we had forgotten 
everything else but the subject. So oblivious were we, 
that, before we discovered the fire, a whole lot of articles 
in the wagon were burned, likewise the bottom, and even 
the captain's pantaloons. This may sound like a "fish 
story," 

I do not remember the second mate, any more than 
if he had never existed. The third mate was Lewis 
Morris Wilkins. I have said enough about him, and will 
only add that he was never happy unless he was in a 



192 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

row, and that, whatever were the color of his eyes, one 
or more were generally black. He might have married 
a rich heiress, who was very much in love with him, if 
he had only let wine and women alone. When "half 
shot," he was as dangerous as a loose tiger. 

One night, after a supper party at my rooms, he got 
hold of a poor "leather-head," as the old-fashioned New 
York night watchmen were called, from their head 
coverings. He took away his cap and club, made him 
walk home with him, and when the poor devil thought 
his last hour had come, he dismissed him with something 
equivalent to a gentle kick, such as Sam "Veller" gave 
the "Eat Boy," in the "Pickwick Papers." I was told 
that he frightened the poor man out of his seventeen 
senses. 

I was in England, from the middle of February to the 
end of March, 1839, and I never remember such weather. 
On St. Patrick's Day (17th March), it did everything 
that it could do. There was sunshine, rain, sleet, sun- 
shine, hail, sunshine, snow, sleet, sunshine, rain, sunshine, 
and a gale of wind. Nevertheless, St, Patrick was 
honored with a very lengthy procession, and the usual 
amount of drink. 

Meanwhile, there were lovely days, sandwiched between 
this rough weather, that were perfectly balmy, and the 
hedges were as green as they are in New York State in 
the latter part of May, The day I drove out to visit 
the Earl of Derby's estate was exactly what is described 
as "Heaven above, and Hell or death below" — just the 
kind of weather to kill a person with weak lungs. The 
sky was cloudless, the air warm to tempt, and the earth 
saturated with moisture to kill. In the sun, it was our 
June, and in the shade, November. I 'had to go up to 
London to see Sir Benjamin Brodie about my heart. 

I never suffered more with cold in my life; a damp 
snow fell; there was no lieating apparatus in the cars. 
Uncle Gus and I had the coupe. When I woke up, 
towards morning, I found myself alone in the darkness. 
He had the money, and I felt exactly like a sick traveler. 



EUROPE AGAIN 193 

stranded in a strange land, without means and without 
friends. Finally I set to "stamping" to warm my half 
frozen feet; and pretty soon I heard a growl. It was 
"Uncle Gus." He had coiled himself up, in his enor- 
mous shaggy sea-coat, and had gone to sleep on the floor. 
He might have cursed my hair off, for all I cared — I, 
poor sick youth, was so glad to find that I was not, as 
I supposed, deserted and alone. 

All I remember of London, this time, is that I saw 
Listen, whom I did not think deserved his comic repu- 
tation; Keeley, who certainly deserved his; and the 
Matthews — people say, father and son, uncle and nephew, 
say I, — the latter, the man who ran away with Drily 
Davenport's wife, and got his "eyes blacked" and himself 
"bum kicked" by the husband. Mme. Vestris was his 
wife, then, a remarkable actress, and an astonishing 
favorite. 

I never could see enough in Mrs. Davenport to justify 
Matthews in running away with her. She was a mimini 
pimini, mincing, prinking, exponent of maudlin, senti- 
mental, seduced country girls. These Matthews made 
me laugh so that I danced with the pain of the 
merriment, and nearly got a head put on me, for I 
stamped on an Englishman'^ toe, and nothing restrained 
his fury but the fact that I was a foreigner. 

I also went to see the "Three Temptations," or 
"Paradise and the Peri." It was got up at enormous 
expense, and some of the groupings were magnificent. 
The angels had enormous swan wings, and in a fight 
with the devils, who opposed red-hot clubs (candles 
inside of gauze work), they suddenly elevated their 
wings, just as you see angels' wings sometimes repre- 
sented as upraised in pictures. This was done to scare 
the devils, but the audience burst into roars of derisive 
laughter, shouting "goose feathers." 

In the last scene the whole stage was supposed to sink 
into hell. All went down into flame except the hero 
and his faithful Azola, the Peri. The machinery was 
very ably managed. Yates, the manager, was called out 

13 



194 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

when the curtain fell, and appeared, to return thanks, 
in perfect dishabille. I particularly remember his termi- 
nations — yellow slippers, down at the heel. 

Wliile in London I consulted Sir Benjamin Brodie, 
and I think, from his manner, that he dissented, in toto, 
from the opinion of the New York doctors. Still, as 
Dr. Smith had sent him out a barrel of American apples, 
he felt it would be a breach of courtesy to condemn, in 
so many words, the treatment of his professional trans- 
Atlantic brother. 

On my return to Liverpool I had a very pleasant time, 
at the Waterloo hotel, with a number of packet captains, 
who stood at the head of their profession, which was 
one of mark at that day. 

Among them, I recollect several distinctly; the first, 
Captain Cropper, of the "Columbus," which had once 
been commanded by my uncle. He was a noble specimen 
of an American sailor. The second, Capt. Eathbone, 
was jaunty in his ways, and, when he was got up for a 
high-caste dinner party, looked as little like a sailor as 
a veteran mariner could appear. He was a dapper little 
man, and, on these occasions, he sported black tights, 
and silk stockings and pumps, and then no one would 
have dreamed that he had ever smelt or felt the salt 
water. 

The third, Capt. Delano, was considered a tip-top swell, 
and yet a more driving sailor never walked a quarter 
deck. They said it was delightful to hear Delano swear. 
As Dick Bottom, in "Midsummer Night's Dream," 
phrased it, he could "roar you gently as a sucking dove." 

He would commence, sotto voce, with the mildest 
maledictions on Jack Tar's optics and hide. Then, as 
his voice mounted into a distinct whisper, his anathemas 
took in other portions of the microcosm than, in ordinary 
conversational tone, he comprehended — the inner John 
Brown — until, finally, the old salt spoke out, and then 
everything material and spiritual was consigned, in 
unmistakable language, to the hottest place known. He 
was not an economical captain for his co-partners, for 



EUEOPE AGAIN 195 

his bill for spars and sails, expended in order to make 
a speedy trip, was something startling. 

Capt. Kean, of the "Elizabeth," was another quiet 
little fellow, who spoke of the perils he had encountered, 
on his last voyage from the States, in as quiet a maimer 
as if he had been taking a summer jaunt. He had been 
caught and battered in the ice, which had been making 
south much earlier and farther than usual. As will be 
seen, we encountered some giant monsters of icebergs on 
our return passage. 

Our hotel was kept, nominally, by a man, but, in 
realit}', by a very smart woman; her husband was a 
perfect specimen of a brandy-soaking John Bull, who 
sat, the whole day and evening, in the office, or whatever 
they called it, by the side of the fire. He gave me a 
disgust toward his countrymen, and I thought nothing 
could be more ignorantly arrogant, until I fell in with 
two said-to-be intelligent Irislmien. 

One was the captain of the "Wild Irishman," that 
towed us to sea, who asserted, in such a stupid manner, 
that New York, already up to Fourteenth street, could 
be placed in one quarter of Liverpool, that I gave bim 
up. The other was a very handsome specimen of a man, 
and, as the world goes, was not a fool; and yet his ideas 
of geography were about as much developed as those of 
a remarkably handsome whaler, who had been out for 
three years, and only knew that he had been somewhere, 
but whereabouts it was he did not know. 

I have told a little story about the Devil and the wind 
in Eome, in connection with Fire Island, to show why 
there is always air stirring in front of the Jesuits' 
Church. To me Liverpool seemed to be always buffeted 
by a gale, but the reason why I never read. This "Pool 
of the Liver," a mythical bird in the city "arms," never 
rejoiced in an unruffled bosom, when I was around. It 
was a perfectly horrid hole, but the police appeared to 
be excellent. 

One little adventure, and I am done with the town. 
Mr. Prue, the ship's butcher, offered to get me a first-rate 



196 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

fighting bull terrier, and I went up to his slaughter- 
house to see some dogs tried. He had a Peccary, or 
Brazilian hog, and he said that the best test of a dog 
would be to let him tackle this pig. 

The latter was a little bit of a brute; could not have 
weighed over twenty-five pounds, but his tusks were 
almost as long and thick as his legs. He seemed to 
know what was coming, and went in a corner and 
crouched, muzzle out. No dog ever went in at him 
twice. He would shear oft' their hair as if it was done 
with a pair of shears, taking hide and flesh with it. 
Then two dogs were loosed at him ; he slit one's shoulder 
open, and punished the other so severely that he skulked 
away completely whipped. 

It was scarcely possible to conceive the mingled caution 
and agility, calculation, courage, and ferocity displayed 
by the pig. It is very likely that, if three or four dogs 
had been loosed upon him at once, they might have killed 
him, but he certainly would have ripped open two. 

This baiting took place in an arched alley, and by this 
time the men and dogs were so excited that they made it 
a perfect reverberating hell of sound. All at once we 
heard an ominous rapping at the heavy, double-doors 
which shut us in from the street. Someone reconnoi- 
tered and said it was the police. The butchers cried, 
"Scamper !" 

Fortunately, there was another way out into another 
street, and the way the mingled crowd of men and dogs 
skedaddled was remarkable. No such time was made 
at Castle Bar, where some of the English ran eighty- 
seven miles in forty-eight hours, nor by either side at 
Montchery, nor at Bull Run. This was my last attempt 
at selecting a bull-terrier, and, if Peccaries ever say their 
prayers at night, Prue's must have invoked blessings, 
that evening, on the police. 

The "docks" at Liverpool were stupendous then, and 
yet they tell me that they were pigmies to the giant 
basins which now exist. It was a beautiful sight, at 
slack high water, to see the vessels haul through the 



EUEOPE AGAIN 197 

gates, making sail as they hauled; then brace yards, and 
schoon away. While I write, I can see the "Heart of 
Oak," an English barque. She was handled like magic, 
and she shot away like an arrow, between wind and tide, 
which runs in the Mersey from seven to ten miles an 
hour, according to the season, direction, and force of 
the wind. 

To give you an idea of how it blows in this estuary, 
and what a sea runs in it, a sloop loaded with guano, 
coming in in a gale, although she had some feet to spare 
under her keel, thumped to pieces on the bottom, in 
consequence of the height and force of the sea, and 
consequent shallowness of the troughs. 

One of our few cabin passengers, on our return voy- 
age, was a Mr. Crowther, and I cannot sum him up 
more emphatically, in concise, appropriate, descriptive 
language, than by qualifying him as a huge human 
hog. 

On this passage we had very few cabin passengers, not 
many second cabin and near five hundred as wild, 
uncouth "Paddies" as ever were caught in a trap, baited 
with a bottle of whiskey. When they would swarm up 
in fine weather, forward, they would bring the "Sheri- 
dan" so down by her head that she would not steer, and 
the captain had to let them up by relays. 

I never did, nor do believe in Darwinism, but, if he 
had been on board that ship, he would have sworn that 
any animals, walking on two legs, who could live in such 
filth and vermin, were below even the "missing link." 
Choirs of them would get on the "t'gallant fo'castle," 
and scream what they considered songs, whose burthens 
were the joys of going to "Columbee," and the prospects 
they had before them in "Ameriky." 

Not one said he was a king, or a son of a king, for 
there were too many there to contradict them ; but from 
the airs they gave themselves, before I got sick, and after 
we passed the "Banks," I have no doubt that, in twenty- 
four hours after they had landed, every mother's son of 
them swore he was a direct descendant of Brian Boru. 



198 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

As I kept an accurate log of my return passage, I will 
skip that, and simply say that it terminated, abruptly, 
off Sable Island, or Cape Shore. I had never been sea- 
sick, but got very bilious on the ocean. Dr. Brodie had 
ordered me, in such a case, to take three pills, for which 
he gave me the prescription. I took one, and was lying 
in my berth, as weak as a cat from its effects, when a 
sea struck me under the counter, and chucked me clean 
out of my bunk, and through the cabin door, against 
the stationary seats alongside the table. 

I picked myself up, made my way on deck, and stood 
for a few minutes, on a wet mat, talking to the man 
at the wheel about this shock, its cause, our course, etc., 
when I recollected that I was then in my bare feet, and 
that I had been taking medicine. I went below and 
turned in. In a little while it was agony to gather up 
my legs, and greater agony to stretch them out again. 
In the morning I had aggravated dysentery. 

What I suffered, no human being can tell. I had had 
charge of the medicine chest, and my dog, "Duke," was 
my "surgeon's mate." When they wanted to look up the 
treatment of dysentery, they found that Mr. Duke had 
torn out the page relating to tliis disease. There was no 
doctor on board, and they had to treat me by guess. 
A second cabin passenger, who had seen some cases of 
the malady, prescribed flour, boiled into a concrete ball, 
then scraped, and administered in boiled milk. This, 
for sustenance, and laudanum for remedy, was all that 
passed my lips for ten days, until we reached port. 

I soon became delirious, and the visions which I saw 
were so exquisite and so vivid that I can recall them to 
my mind, with perfect distinctness, after thirty-seven 
years. I saw armies and fleets manoeuvre, as if my 
darkened stateroom was a vast field of exercise, or a 
vaster basin. Everything was as distinct as if my eyes 
had become invested with microscopic and telescopic 
power, and when, at intervals, the agony of the disease 
awakened me to consciousness, I longed for another dose 
of the narcotic to restore me to the bliss of dreamland. 



EUEOPE AGAIN 199 

In one of my lucid intervals I found the captain 
sitting beside me. "Am I going to die?" I asked. He 
intimated very coolly that he thought it was most likely 
such would be the case. "Uncle Gus," I rejoined, "don't 
throw me overboard." "No danger of that ; I have made 
all the preparations necessary," was his comforting 
answer. "I shall start the water out of a butt, get up 
some sacks of salt (coarse salt, in sacks, was a portion 
of our cargo), and carry you in pickle." 

He says I bore this gentle intelligence like a man, 
without a whimper or a word; that I turned my face 
over to the ship's side, and was soon lost in my fairyland, 
induced by opium. 

Another time I had struggled into my senses, when 
I heard a cry of "Fire !" No one who has not heard 
that cry, on shipboard, can imagine its startling horror. 
It wilts the bravest, in the full possession of their 
strength and senses. Add to this the tossing of an angry 
sea, and the howling of the wilder wintry wind, 
and imagine its effects on an invalid, chained to his 
berth, and hourly drained of his life-blood ! If I never 
was frightened, before or since, I acknowledged the corn 
then. 

There was a lady on board, and I would be disgraced, 
if my memory was not defective on names, if I did not 
note hers here. I never saw her after we landed, but 
she watched over me like a ministering angel. The vast 
joy of getting ashore obliterated everything but the fact 
that I was home again. It was long before I got about, 
and when I did get out I lost all trace of her. 

How I got ashore is the strangest part of the story. 
I was almost in a comatose state, and, in some respects, 
very much neglected. A lady is not exactly the nurse 
for a man afflicted with this infernal malady, and a 
large portion of the time I was left to the tender mercies 
of a rough and not over-attentive cabin boy. I had 
become a pretty good sailor, while about, so much so that 
I was permitted to act as a volunteer fourth mate. 
Consequently, I could understand pretty much all that 



200 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

was going on, simply by listening to the sounds on deck, 
coupled with the motions of the ship. 

One morning, about four bells, I knew that the ship 
had been thrown aback, and I heard a strange voice. 
I sent the cabin boy on deck to learn what had occurred. 
He came back and told me that the pilot was on board, 
and that we were entering Sandy Hook. 

Now comes a most astonishing proof of the power of 
mind over matter. I sent for a cup of black tea, and 
some toast. I drank a cup, and ate a slice. Strength- 
ened and refreshed, I got up, and, by instalments, I 
dressed. My teeth had begun to crumble; I cleaned 
them; I washed myself; I crawled on deck. 

By this time we were abreast of Quarantine. The 
Health Officer gave immediate permission for me to go 
ashore. How I got there, I don't remember. Something 
tells me it was in the visiting doctor's boat. From it 
I walked on board the ferry-boat. 

Uncle Gus was with me, and when we got to the foot 
of Whitehall street, he put me alone into a hack, and 
ordered the driver to take me to my father's home in 
Twelfth street. I got out; rang the bell. The door 
was opened by an old servant. I made my way into 
the hall, and there my will and strength gave out, and 
I fell like a log on the floor. They carried me up to 
bed, sent for Dr. Gilbert Smith, and for a long time 
I continued to battle with the malady, gaining ground, 
however, each day. Oh, the horror, the agony, the 
despair, of my last ten days on board the "Sheridan." 
If I had given up for one minute, not I, but my corpse, 
would have come home. 

I left home in a sad condition of body and feelings, 
and I returned so near a corpse, and so nearly resembling 
one, that, when I recovered strength enough to crawl 
out into the sun, and sat down on a pile of beams in 
front of a building erected on the same block with my 
father's house, the Irish laborers took up brick-bats, and 
bid me be off, or they would pelt me for a walking 
skeleton, that would bring the "pestilence" among them. 



EUKOPE AGAIN 201 

They were so much in earnest, and I so utterly helpless, 
that I crawled home again. I do not believe I had an 
ounce of flesh on my bones, and my skin hung on them 
like loose clothes. 

I have never entirely recovered from the effects of this 
attack of dysentery. 

Sam Weller somewhere speaks of a fat man, who was 
butted in the stomach by a boy with a big head, and 
remarks that his insides were never right afterwards. 
To this I say, ditto. 

I believe the joy of getting home saved my life, but 
the treatment I had experienced was pretty rough — 
pretty rough, pretty rough — for a rich man's son ! 

Uncle Gus was not an unfeeling man, but I have 
always found that men made of leather, catgut, oak and 
iron, cannot sympathize with the sick, or, perhaps — not 
to be uncharitable — cannot comprehend sickness. 

Not many minutes after he left me, the Captain 
encountered my father, in Wall street. After a few 
words, and salutation, father asked, "Well, Gus, how is 
John ?" "John ! I have brought him home, but he is 
about as good as dead." "Gus," said my father, "if you 
were not my brother, I'd knock you down on the spot." 
Then he posted home, and he certainly was stirred up, 
when he saw me. 



BOOK III 
MILITAEY CAREER 



CHAPTER XX 

JUDGE-ADVOCATE AND COLONEL 

In 1841, soon after liis marriage, General de Peyster 
purchased the property at Tivoli, New York, which 
remained his country home, and which he called "Rose 
Hill," after the ancestral home of his mother's family 
in the suburbs of Edinburgh. From this time until 
his death, in the spring of 1907, his summers were spent 
in Duchess County, which was also his legal residence, 
while his winters were spent in liis town house in ISTew 
York, number Fifty-nine East Twenty-first Street. 

In a letter to J. B. Lippincott & Company of Phila- 
delphia, dated 19 June, 1877, the General gives the 
following account of the village of Tivoli : 

"Tivoli is a recently incorporated village, combining 
two post office villages about a mile apart; one, Tivoli, 
a steamboat landing on the Hudson River, and a station 
on the Hudson River Railroad, and the other, Madalin, 
formerly Myersville, so called after one of the original 
settlers on the plateau back. 

"Tivoli is in the Township of Red Hook, the north- 
western Township of Duchess County, New York. 
Madalin is famous for its strawberries, the finest variety 
sent to market, and produced in enormous quantities on 
account of some fitting quality of the clay soil. Tivoli 
was laid out as a city about the beginning of the century 
by an old Frenchman named Delabygarre, but his plans 
turned out to be dreams. The population of the incor- 
porated district, a little over a mile square, must be 
about 1,500. It is bi-sected by White Clay Creek, upon 
which, in Madalin, there is now a grist, saw and plaster 
mill. About the year 1800 there was a large grist mill 
and a saw mill at its mouth, and thence a rude canal to 
the main channel of the Hudson, about a mile distant, 
through a 'fly' which is now filled up. 

205 



206 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

"There are five churches; one, a beautiful stone Gothic 
Episcopal Church, St. Paul's original Parish Church, 
with a beautiful series of vaults of several of the oldest 
families in the country; second. Trinity Episcopal 
Church, built of brick, which is, I think, a sort of 
dependency of Trinity Church in New York, and an 
invasion of the old Parish; third, fourth, and fifth are 
Baptist, Methodist, and Dutch Reformed Churches, 
respectively, all built of wood. The latter, known as the 
'Red Church,' was built on the site of the oldest place 
of worship in this region, and has attached to it a 
cemetery finely situated and quite extensive. 

"There are no banks and no manufactures of any 
account. On White Clay Creek there is an old woolen 
factory, and near it a sulphur spring. Shortly after 
1800 there was a porcelain factory at Tivoli. There is 
a boys' school in the village, and St. Stephen's Episcopal 
College is at Annandale, about four miles away. There 
are no newspapers. 

"General Montgomery's mansion is about four miles 
south; Chancellor Livingston's, and also his father's, two 
miles north of the village. All three, as well as others, 
were burned by the British in 1777. The only house 
spared by them was the mansion of my ancestor, Robert 
Gilbert Livingston, still standing. 

"The first regular passage steamboat — second steamer 
— was built within the limits of the corporation. I can 
tell you all about this, and I don't believe another man 
can. 

"In 1777 the British anchored their fleet opposite 
Tivoli (then Upper Red Hook Landing), and their 
vessels extended four miles up and down the river. 

"A number of travelers, native and foreign, have 
pronounced the scenery surrounding Tivoli more beauti- 
ful than any they have seen elsewhere. Opposite Tivoli 
is the re-entering angle of the Katskill Mountains, and 
the highest peaks. The old Mountain House is just to 
the northwest; Saugerties, at the mouth of Esopus 
Creek, opposite. Two miles back of Tivoli is 'Turkey 



JUDGE-ADVOCATE AND COLONEL 207 

Hill/ a trigonometrical station of the United States 
Survey. Thence the Highlands of four States, New 
York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont are 
visible on a very clear day, and, on extraordinary occa- 
sions, it is claimed that the White Mountains of New- 
Hampshire can be discerned. The view to the west, 
north, and east is wonderfully fine. There is a dese- 
crated cemetery in old Tivoli, in which people, among 
whom is one of whom I know, were buried, many of 
them being born over two hundred years ago; but one 
interment has occurred there within the memory of an 
old settler who died two or three years since at the age of 
ninety-nine. 

"One of the first groves of mulberries for the nourish- 
ment of silkworms planted in the State of New York 
is on my property. 

"I could tell you a great deal more, but I guess I have 
told you more than you want already. If I have not, 
advise me, for I am full of folk and historic lore on 
subjects connected with my race and name." 

In a letter written to a Mr. Ridley, 9 June, 1877, the 
General speaks of his country home as follows : 

"My place never looked more beautiful than it does 
now. It is an extraordinary place in one respect, it 
requires so little expenditure to keep it in beautiful order. 
I have been cutting down a great many trees and letting 
the light in, for after a heavy rain, under the dense roof 
of foliage, it is very chilly. As Cousin Phil* said, it 
looks out upon the most beautiful scenery that he ever 
saw. Every day, however, adds to the damage of the 
river. Right under the bank where Henry Barclay used 
to live, they have run out a causeway which extends half 
across the river to the outer edge of the westside flat. 
This causeway stops up the Little or Glasgow Channel, 
so that between this new dock and Saugerties Creek, in 
a few years, it will be all dry ground. At the end of the 
causeway there is a large square steamboat dock and 



♦Major-General Philip Kearny. 



208 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

ferry slip, and on the dock a hotel or tavern and sheds. 
It is a perfect ''eye-sore.' A week ago they had a grand 
'pow-wow' to celebrate its completion, with a band of 
music and a cannon. This was to welcome the first 
day boat that landed. The object of this dock, which 
is said to have cost $22,000, is to divert through Sauger- 
ties from Catskill the travel to the mountain houses." 

The best years of the General's life are associated with 
"Rose Hill." It was the centre of his activities in 
connection with the New York State Militia. Here he 
accumulated one of the most interesting private libraries 
in the possession of an American, adding to the books 
inherited from his grandfather and his father thousands 
of volumes acquired in the prosecution of his military 
and other studies. On the rear of his house he built an 
annex in the shape of a tower, mainly devoted to his 
library, and here were dictated and written the greater 
portion of the hundreds of books and pamphlets which 
he issued. From "Eose Hill" also he conducted a corre- 
spondence with many of the most distinguished scholars 
and military "v^iters of Europe, as well as with nearly 
all the eminent Union officers of onr Civil War. 

The following interesting account of "Eose Hill" 
appeared anonymously in the Pouglikeepsie Weekly 
Eagle, of 30 December, 1871. Anyone who has visited 
the place will appreciate the picture. 

"A few days ago I happened to be detained at a 
station on the Hudson Eiver Eailroad named Tivoli, 
opposite the Saugerties Iron Works, and, having a few 
minutes on my hands, I wandered up into the woods, 
north of the depot. I found a good graveled road climb- 
ing a steep hill, carried along the edge of a slope, 
supported in places by a wall embodying cyclopian stones, 
and, continuing on underneath an evergreen foliage, 
came upon a dwelling which well repaid my walk. It 
was as queer a conglomeration of styles as can well be 
imagined; some forty paces long, cross-shaped, recalling 
European mansions commenced in one age, continued in 
another, and completed a century or centuries afterward. 




'ROSE HILL," TIVOLI, NEW YORK 
Country Seat of General de Peyster 



JUDGE-ADVOCATE AND COLONEL 209 

The main building is in the Italian style, the north 
wing simple or rude as well may be, the southern 
somewhat more tastily finished; while in the rear, over 
the roadway, soars a tower, reminding the visitor of the 
keep of an early modern manor house. 

"There was no one about; and so I wandered around 
and marvelled at the taste of the owner and builder. 
This tower, by guess, sixty or seventy feet high, is a 
square, with one corner cut off, with heavy iron balconies, 
richly carved keystones, with deeply cut armorial bear- 
ings, marble and stone sculptures let in without regard 
to artistic design as if dictated by caprice; and, queerest 
of all, in a niche, aloft, sat a huge Aztec idol, such as 
is only seen in museums. Shut up and alone, no 
questions could be asked; but peeping in through a 
grated window, imagine the surprise at seeing brass guns 
grinning out between the bars. No other building like 
it, I will be bound, is to be found along the Hudson. 
A short distance north of the house are extensive — it 
might be said enormous — stables and farm buildings 
overlooking the river, with gate posts crowned with huge 
eagles or vultures. 

"These constructions would be in exact keeping with 
the house were they in stone instead of wood. 

"From the house, across a deep ravine, by a bridge 
some forty paces long, a path climbs a hill to a neglected 
flower-garden, beginning to be overgrown with a new 
growth of forest, and beyond this again another garden 
and orchard. The former must have once been beautiful, 
with beds marked out with luxuriant box; but 
everything seems neglected except the necessaries, such 
as roads, buildings, which were in good order. The 
roads were wonderful for such broken ground, and 
seemed to twist off in every direction, up steep hills and 
through woods of grand trees. Within the same area 
it would be almost impossible to find more natural 
beauties, almost altogethei; undeveloped by art. Doubt- 
less, the place was once in better condition, for under 
this gloomy vault of lofty pine and hemlock stood a 

14 



210 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

marble monument; in another place, a pretty little 
summer house; and in a fresh grassed opening I 
stumbled over a cistern. Again, out a way, in a level 
field, in fine order, there was quite a pretty pond, which 
must have been excavated — not natural, although quite 
a growth of swamp willow was growing on the sides. 
Toward the southwest, adjoining the grass land, niched 
in this country seat, a very attractive Gothic church 
stood amid fine trees, with a row of massive funeral 
vaults, as unlike the usual appendages of American 
country churches as the mansion which first attracted 
my attention. 

"While wondering, and admiring the strangeness of my 
surroundings, my watch told me that time was up, and 
so I hurried back to the station, pausing once or twice 
to note and admire some of the finest views of inland 
scenery, mountain and river, remembered in the course 
of long journeyings. In my haste I nearly pitched over 
a precipice, and, trying to recover my road, stumbled 
into a cemetery devoted to dogs and parrots. Mercy, 
thought I, is the owner an Egyptian ! From his house, 
he might have been an eclectic admirer of all the orders 
and creeds of the Old and New Worlds. 

*'But, enough; I made my way through the noble 
woods, almost as shady in the bright autumn sun as 
many forests in summer, so numerous were the lofty 
evergreens, and, on asking at the depot, learned that the 
owner of this curious place was a General de Peyster. 
Curiosity demanded more particulars, but the train was 
at hand and I was off, with my greed for information 
unsatisfied. And so, at my first leisure, I send you this 
memorandum of a visit to one of the most beautiful 
natural situations, and survey of one of the most eccen- 
tric or unusual of mansions. With money and art the 
place might be made one of the finest in our land. As 
it is, it is queer, but doubtless most comfortable, and 
everywhere scrupulously clean and orderly. This, 
however, must be said: From the front of the house, on 
a point by the way, there is a river view, backed by the 



JUDGE-ADVOCATE AND COLONEL 211 

Kaatskills, unexceeded in extent and beauty; to the 
southward the river resembles nothing less than one of 
the seven lakes which have called forth so much good 
and bad poetry. 

"Whoever the owner of this glorious spot may be, I 
thank him for as pleasant an hour as ever compensated 
for missing a train." 

General de Peyster's connection with the Militia began 
with liis appointment as Judge-Advocate of the Twenti- 
eth Brigade, New York State Infantry, with the rank 
of Major, dating from the sixteenth day of September, 
1845. A copy of his commission follows. 

"THE PEOPLE OP THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 
"TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL 

COME: 
"KNOW YE, That pursuant to the Constitution and 
Laws of our said State, We have appointed and consti- 
tuted, and by these Presents do appoint and constitute 
John Watts de Peyster, Judge Advocate of the 20th 
Brigade of Infantry of our said State, (with rank from 
16th September, 1845) to hold the said oflBce in the 
manner specified in and by our said Constitution and 
Laws. 

"IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, We have caused our 
Seal for Military Commissions to be hereunto 
affixed. Witness SILAS WRIGHT, Esquire, 
Governor of our said State, General and Com- 
mander-in-Chief of all the Militia, and Admiral 
of the Navy of the same, at our City of Albany, 
the 18th day of September, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and forty-five. 

"Silas Weight. 
"PASSED THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE. 
"Thomas Farrington^ 

"Adjutant-General." 

From the beginning Major de Peyster evinced a 

remarkable interest in the Militia, as might have been 

anticipated from the youthful enthusiasm with which 

he had .engaged in military recreations, such as the 



212 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

carrying on of mock battles with Ms cousin, afterwards 
General Philip Kearny. His devotion to the service, and 
his manifest abilities, fitting him for command, were soon 
recognized by the men. Within less than a year's time, 
he was elected Colonel of the Eegiment. The letter 
notifying him of his election, dated at Tivoli, 15 August, 
1846, and signed by P. H. Lasher, "Brigadier-General 
and Presiding Officer," was as follows: 

"At an election this day held, in pursuance of the Act 
to organize the Militia, at the house of William A. 
Moore, in the Town of Red Hook, Duchess Co., S. N. Y., 
you were duly chosen to fill the office of Colonel in the 
111th Eegiment, 20th Brigade and 7th Division of the 
Militia of this State. As presiding officer at said Elec- 
tion, it becomes my duty to notify you of your election 
and to request that you will signify your acceptance 
within ten days after the receipt hereof, otherwise you 
will be considered as declining." 

We also here give the commission issued by Governor 
Silas Wright: 

"THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 
"TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL 

COME: 
"KNOW YE, That pursuant to the Constitution and 
Laws of our said State, We have appointed and consti- 
tuted, and by these Presents do appoint and constitute, 
John Watts de Peyster, Colonel in the 111th Regiment 
of Infantry of our said State, with rank from August 15, 
1846, to hold the said office in the manner specified in 
and by our said Constitution and Laws. 

"IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, We have caused 
our Seal of Military Commissions to be hereunto 
affixed. Witness, SILAS WRIGHT, Esquire, 
Governor of our said State, General and Com- 
mander-in-Chief of all the Militia, and Admiral 
of the Navy of the same, at our City of Albany, 
the 25th day of August, in the year of our Lord 
one thousand eight hundred and forty-six. 

"Silas Wright. 



JFDGE-ADYOCATE AND COLONEL 213 

'TASSED THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE. 
"E. E. Temple, 

"ADJUTANT-GENERAL/' 

Colonel de Peyster's regiment was recruited in the 
towns of Red Hook, Milan, and Rhinebeck, Duchess 
County. Among his personal reminiscences he has left 
an amusing account of his experience as a colonel of 
militia. 

"In 1846," he says, "I found myself in command of 
the 111th N. Y. S. Infantry. I had lain awake, the 
whole night before 'officers' training,' studying out the 
manoeuvers which were to be practised next day. I had 
some respect for myself, more for my commission, and 
I believed I could make something of this regiment. 
At 'officers' training' all the commissioned and non- 
commissioned officers of the regiment met for instruc- 
tion. If the regiment was full, these constituted a body 
of about one hundred and twenty-five men, of whom the 
Colonel took command as instructor. Many of the 
officers had served six or seven years; some had attained 
middle-age; all were men of good understanding. I 
think I was the youngest man on the parade ground at 
Lower Red Hook. 

"From early morning until sundown, I had done my 
best to drill that body according to book. I thought I 
had made some impression. Just as I was about to 
dismiss them, my Adjutant, Van Fredenburg, quite a 
tall, good-looking fellow, approached me and asked me 
to allow him to put the regiment through some of the 
manoeuvres to which they had been accustomed; that 
the officers were disappointed. He did not say in me, 
but his looks, echoed by the looks of others, implied it. 

"Anxious to see in what I had failed, and knowing 
that the Adjutant was, compared to me, an old hand at 
the business, I consented. His face lit up. He com- 
municated the permission to the expectant line, and their 
faces lit up. The music struck up with an alacrity and 
liveliness I had not heard in it all day, and then, 
imagine my astonishment, when, after all my pains to 



214 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

instil some common sense into that hundred and 
upwards, my Adjutant led off, and those dignified, 
respectable, one hundred and twenty-five men-in-arms, 
many, fathers of families, solemnly, in the presence of 
a thousand people, performed the very evolution that I 
had seen in Cooperstown — 'hunting the fox.' I thought 
I should have dropped, 

"I made a spiteful dash for the Adjutant, but he was 
already in the centre of the coil, and around him were 
twined those one hundred and twenty-five men, with 
faces glowing with delight, making themselves supremely 
ridiculous, as solemnly as if they were executing some 
evolution before the eyes of Frederick the Great. I left 
the field. I ordered my horses and drove away; but, 
long after I left the village, I heard those drums and 
fifes filling my abandoned warriors with enthusiasm, in 
the prosecution of a series of manoeuvres, my ignorance 
of which, doubtless, filled my command with as much 
contempt for me as I felt for them. 

''When company training came, I drove through my 
whole regimental district with my annihilated Adjutant, 
and I guess there was no 'hunting the fox' while I was 
by that day. Wlien regimental training came, I had a 
mutiny. I may tell the story at length in its appropriate 
place, but it was put down in a way that somewhat aston- 
ished the command. This occurred in the morning, and 
after it, and throughout the afternoon, there never was 
a better behaved regiment in the United States service. 

"I honestly and truly believe that those infatuated men 
really and conscientiously thought that this boy's play 
was something supremely — what it was the custom then 
to style — 'military.' 

"Next year the 'uninformed' militia was disbanded 
forever, and it was time. 

"A new law and a new system came in, under which 
something practical might have been accomplished. It 
was tried with amendments, for three or four years, but 
was deemed too severe on the people. In 1851 there 
was another new law, and with it passed away everything 



JUDGE-ADVOCATE AND COLONEL 215 

like the general disciplining of the people, contemplated 
by the 'Fathers,' in our first organizing Congresses." 

Colonel de Peyster proved himself to be a successful 
disciplinarian. He began at once to bring his regiment 
into a state of great efficiency, and it became apparent 
that he was a practical and rapid organizer of effective 
troops. 

The military laws of 13 May, 1846, and 13 May, 1847, 
effected a complete reorganization of the New York 
Militia. The entire State was re-districted; numerous 
regiments were disbanded. The One Hundred and 
Eleventh Eegiment, the command of Colonel de Peyster, 
passed out of existence. The radical nature of this 
change may be realized from the fact that the new 
Twenty-second Eegiment, New York State Infantry, 
under the command of Colonel George Decker, covered 
not merely the territory formerly under Colonel de 
Peyster's command, but embraced all the northern towns 
of Duchess County, and the southern half of Columbia 
County, including the city of Hudson, a territory which, 
under the old system, had contained fifteen or sixteen 
regiments. 

The law of 13 May, 1847, provided that the command- 
ers of disbanded regiments might retain their super- 
numerary rank by reporting themselves before 1 May, 
1848. Colonel de Peyster so reported himself to the 
Adjutant-General, on the sixteenth October, 1847, and 
to Colonel Decker, of the Twenty-second Eegiment, on 
the seventeenth. To the latter he wrote: 

"I hereby report myself as Col. of the late 111th 
Eeg't, N. Y. S. I., and as having duly reported myself 
to the Adjutant-Gen'l of this State, under Section 21 
of the Militia Law passed May 13, 1847, prior to May 
1st, 1848." 

Assistant Adjutant-General Van Vechten's acknowl- 
edgment of the receipt of the letter in which Colonel 
de Peyster reported himself, is dated at Albany, 18 
October, 1847, and reads : 

"I have to acknowledge the receipt of a communica- 



216 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

tion from you, by this Department, on the 16th inst., 
reporting yourself as Colonel of the 111th Reg't, under 
the old organization, and as wishing to retain your 
Supernumerary rank, under Section 31st of the Act 
passed May 13th, 1847." 

The official certification that Colonel de Peyster had 
been rendered supernumerary, dated 9 September, 1848, 
is signed by Adjutant-General Samuel Stevens. 

"I HEEEBY CERTIFY," it runs, "that J. Watts de 
Peyster, of the County of Duchess, did on the first day 
of December, 1847, report himself to this Department 
as holding a commission of Colonel in the Militia of 
the State of New York, and having been rendered super- 
numerary by the provisions of the act passed May 13th, 
1847, entitled 'An act to provide for the enrollment of 
the Militia, and to encourage the formation of Uniform 
Companies, excepting the First Military Division of this 
State,' is entitled to all the privileges conferred by any 
preceding law." 

The military laws of 1846 and 1847 were designed 
to effect a radical reform of many prevalent abuses, and 
to lay the foundation for a genuine State soldiery. 
Their enactment created widespread opposition. Many 
officers who had been deprived of their commands were 
dissatisfied, and so changed were the old organizations 
that the rank and file, as well, became rebellious, and 
even mutinous. 

The situation was still further complicated by the 
anti-rent agitation, then at its height. The new Twenty- 
second regimental district embraced one of the disaffected 
regions, where excitement ran highest. A considerable 
part of the territory was wild and mountainous. Many 
of its inhabitants, identifying themselves actively with 
the anti-renters, assumed a lawless and desperate charac- 
ter, setting all authority at defiance. Colonel Decker, 
commander of the district, was unable to control these 
turbulent elements — could not, in fact, maintain proper 
discipline even amongst his own troops. 

Under these circumstances, as a military necessity, 



JUDGE-ADVOCATE AND COLONEL 317 

Colonel de Peyster, the youngest Colonel in the district, 
was assigned to its command over the heads of a number 
of officers of his rank holding commissions antedating 
his. The order of the Adjutant-General to this effect 
was as follows: 

"STATE OF NEW YORK, HEADQUAETEES, 
"ADJUTANT-GENEEAL'S OFFICE. 

"Albany, Sept. 3d, 1849. 
"GENERAL OEDEES : 
"No. 119. 
"Pursuant to the provisions of Section 1st of the 
Act passed April 10th, 1849, the Commander-in-Chief 
hereby assigns the command of the 22d Eegiment, 
N. Y. S. M., to Col. J. Watts de Peyster. 

"Col. George Decker will forthwith deliver to Col. de 
Peyster all the books and papers belonging to said 
Eegiment. 

"By order of the Commander-in-Chief. 

"Sam'l Stevens, 
"Adj't-Gen'l." 

A little later, the power of prescribing the uniforms 
of his officers and troops was conferred upon Colonel de 
Peyster by an order of Adjutant-General Samuel Stevens, 
dated 8 November, 1849: 

"The Commander-in-Chief hereby orders and directs 
that until further Orders the uniform of the Officers, 
non-commissioned Officers, musicians and privates of the 
22d Eegiment shall be such as shall be prescribed by 
Col. J. Watts de Peyster, the Commandant thereof." 

Authority for a further reform of the same nature 
was granted by General Orders No. 328, dated at Albany, 
31 January, 1851, and signed by Adjutant-General L. 
Ward Smith: 

"The Commander-in-Chief hereby orders and directs 
that Col. J. Watts de Peyster, Colonel commanding 
22d Reg't, shall have the power to prescribe the undress 
uniform, and to make such alterations, &c., in the full 



218 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

dress uiiifonn, arms and equipments of said Regiment 
as he shall deem advisable, and also that at all parades 
and Courts Martial or of Appeals, full or undress uniform 
may be worn, as may by him be determined in Orders." 

So successful as a disciplinarian was Colonel de Peyster 
that, within a year from his assignment to the command 
of the Twenty-second Regiment, he received the special 
commendation of the Adjutant-General. The latter 
stated that, with the exception of Colonel Willard of 
Troy, who had been an officer of the United States Army, 
Colonel de Peyster alone, of the regimental commanders 
of the State, had succeeded in reducing his troops to 
proper discipline and in completely enforcing the law 
in his district. In recognition of this achievement 
Colonel de Peyster was authorized to wear a medal. 

An incident which occurred illustrates the difficulties 
which confronted him, and his method of meeting them. 
At a general parade all but one company of the regiment 
broke out into open mutiny, refusing to obey orders. 
Colonel de Peyster was prepared. Knowing that one 
company could be relied upon, to this he had issued ball 
cartridges. He announced this fact to the mutineers, 
and drawing up his faithful company, threatened to open 
fire. The men instantly submitted, and from this time 
forward their commander heard no more of rebellion in 
the ranks. 

In the summer of 1850 Governor "Washington Hunt 
wrote to Honorable George Cornell, the unsuccessful 
candidate for lieutenant-governor upon Hunt's ticket, 
that "if he had an army of thirty thousand regulars, he 
knew no officer to whom he would entrust their command 
with such perfect confidence as he would to his friend. 
Colonel de Peyster." The following summary of Colonel 
de Peyster's military services to the State is an official 
document issued by the Adjutant-General of the State, 
31 December, 1850". 

"I, SAMUEL STEVENS, Adjutant- General of the 
State of New York, do hereby certify, That Col. J. 
Watts de Peyster, then Commandant of the 111th Reg't 




JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER, 1849 
Colonel of the Twenty-Secoud Regiment, New York State Militi 



JUDGE-ADVOCATE AND COLONEL 219 

of Infantry, was placed in command of the 22d Kegi- 
mental District for previous efiScient services which had 
been rendered by him: That the former Colonel was 
superseded in consequence of his mal-administration and 
neglect, which had completely disorganized the District, 
but which Col. de Peyster, by his energy and determina- 
tion, very soon reduced to a perfect state of discipline: 
That while in command of the 22d Keg't, Col. de 
Peyster had cast, at his own expense, a MOUNTAIN 
HOWITZER of elaborate workmanship and improved 
pattern, at the foundry of the Ames Manufacturing 
Company, Chicopee, Massachusetts: That with this 
Howitzer he made many experiments, and his Report, 
based upon those experiments, induced the State Author- 
ities to introduce MOUNTAIN HOWITZER BAT- 
TERIES into their service : That during the same period, 
Col. de Peyster's attention was directed to testing the 
mooted question, as to what firearms were best adapted 
to Foot and Flying Artillery. 

"That during the winter of 1849 and 1850, Col. de 
Peyster was sent by me to inspect the U. S. Armory for 
the manufacture of Small Arms, at Springfield, Massa- 
chusetts, and examine and report upon the serviceableness 
of altered Percussion Muskets and decide whether it 
was expedient for the State of New York to receive the 
altered Arms, as part of the quota of Arms due from 
the General Government, instead of new Flint Lock 
Muskets, and that upon his Report muskets with flint 
locks altered to percussion were introduced into the State 
service. 

"That during the time Col. de Peyster has held a 
Commission, his efforts have been constantly directed 
to the improvement of the Municpal Military Organiza- 
tion of the State of New York: That he has introduced 
tasteful, salutary and economical reforms in the uniform, 
arms and equipments of the troops under his command, 
and that many of the changes in uniform, &c., which 
by order of President Taylor were adopted in the United 
States Army, were advocated and published by him some 



230 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

time previous to their approval by the United States 
War Department. 

"That Col. de Peyster had constructed at his own 
expense a new Garrison Carriage, somewhat similar in 
its arrangement to the Romme Naval Carriage ; and that, 
in 1849, he projected a Field Carriage for a light 
Howitzer, which was subsequently adopted by the United 
States Ordnance Department, and known as the Moun- 
tain Howitzer Prairie Carriage." 

The Adjutant-General mentions the fact that Colonel 
de Peyster had been appointed to report upon the 
advisability of a change in the arms used by the troops 
of New York. The results of this investigation were 
embodied in the following oflHcial report : 

"Headquarters, 22d Reg't N. Y. S. T., 
"Tivoli P. 0., Duchess Co., 7th Feb., 1850. 
"To the Brig'r Gen'l Hon. Samuel Stevens, Adj't Gen'l 

of the State of New York, Albany : 
"My dear Sir: 

"I returned yesterday from having visited and 
inspected the machinery and muskets in the U. S. 
Armory at Springfield, Mass. Pursuant to your instruc- 
tions, I hereby make my Report respecting the U. S. 
muskets, whose locks have been altered from flint to 
percussion, which the General Government are willing 
or anxious to issue to the State of New York, instead 
of the flint lock muskets hitherto furnished by them. 
After leaving the U. S. Arsenal at Watervliet, I was 
averse to this State's receiving the muskets with altered 
locks at the same price as the muskets with new flint 
locks, but careful and farther examination has proved 
to me that the altered arms are superior to flint lock 
muskets at the same price, and in two respects superior 
even to the new percussion muskets. 

"1st. The main spring of the altered lock having 
power suflicient to strike fire with the flint, Is more 
effective, and renders the explosion of the cap certain. 

"2d. The nipple or cone being inserted in the top of 
the barrel, the fire from the cap is communicated to the 



JUDGE-ADVOCATE AND COLONEL 231 

charge in the most direct and consequently most certain 
manner, whereas in the new muskets jt is not direct but 
circular — thus : 

"The only advantage, besides appearance, possessed by 
the new percussion lock musket, is the bayonet stop and 
the safety notch, which restrains the hammer sufficiently 
from off the cap to prevent an accidental explosion in 
case of the hammer being struck by anything, thus 
causing a soldier to make three movements in cocking, 
viz: 

"1st, Safety notch; 

"2d, Half cock; 

"3d, Cock. 

"This is a very advantageous addition in Cavalry arms, 
and has been adopted in the U. S. Carbines, and Sappers 
and Miners' musketoons. 

"I would advise the receipt of bright instead of bronzed 
barrels, in consequence of the difficulty of keeping up 
a perfect color, even on parade, much more in the field — 
for which reason bronzed barrels have been discarded in 
the French and the United States service, as I was 
informed at the Springfield Armory, where I saw a new 
Eegulation French musket, with bright barrel. 

"Having reported my reasons as above for advising 
the receipt of the altered lock muskets, 

"I have the honor to be, respectfully, 

"Your obed't Serv% 
"J. Watts de Peyster, 
"Colonel commanding 23d Eeg't N". Y. S. M." 



CHAPTER XXI 

BRIGADIER-GENERAL 

Colonel de Peyster's connection with the Militia meant 
much more to him than merely an opportunity to wear 
an officer's uniform. From the beginning of his career, 
he earnestly studied the conditions in the State with a 
view to the introduction of needed reforms. This con- 
tinued for a number of years until at length, believing 
that he could accomplish no more for the State troops, 
he addressed his efforts to a wider audience — the military 
spirit of the Nation. 

While in command of the troops of Duchess and 
Columbia Counties, first as Colonel and afterwards as 
Brigadier-General, he experimented with firearms and field 
pieces, at his own expense, and reported the results to 
the military authorities of the State. He was indefati- 
gable in exercising his troops, established a reputation 
as a bold and skillful horseman, and became a conspicu- 
ous figure throughout his regimental district. In his 
reminiscences, dictated in 1876, he refers to his rides 
and drives over the country. 

"I can bring plenty of witnesses," he writes, "who will 
swear that no man living ever could tool more hand- 
somely, one horse, pair, spike team, tandem, trandem, 
or four-in-hand. I never got to six, but many a time 
have I cut figures of 8, backwards and forwards, in the 
circumscribed barnyard of Artillery General Wainwright, 
H. S. v., run four-in-hands through the fields, and 
jump them over stone walls and ditches, before a 
sleigh. And then in the pigskin on Posy, across 
country ! I never knew but one man, my Galway hunting 
groom, Matthew, who could follow me. I came off safe, 
while he got a fall which broke one or more ribs and 
crippled him for life. Posy could take five feet six, 
standing, clean and clear. 

222 



BEIGADIEPt-GENEEAL 223 

"Once, in 1849, I was practising with artillery, at 
Round Pond, three or four miles east of Upper Red 
Hook. The battery was on the west side of the pond, the 
target on the east. There was a crowd of people 
watching our firing, among them an ex-Captain of the 
United States Dragoons. I had occasion to ride over 
to look at the target. When I got round near to it I 
encountered a rail fence, which extended out into the 
water. I rode out into the pond, supposing I could soon 
get to the end of the fence and turn it. When I got into 
water so deep that it was about up to my mare's neck, 
I discovered that the fence continued on under the water, 
so that I had either to jump tlie fence or turn back. 
The latter course my pride forbade, so I charged the 
fence and Posy carried me over safely. I visited the 
target and returning jumped the fence again. This was 
a wonderful feat of horsemanship, jumping a fence of 
ordinary height in deep water; but Posy could jump 
five feet six, standing, and was perfectly fearless. Few 
are alive who were eye witnesses, but Philip H. Teator, 
U. R. H., spoke within two or three years of having seen 
this jump. 

"I had afterwards a black mare named Dolly, who 
was Posy's equal in courage. Posy would stand in the 
midst of a Battery, firing with ball, without fiinching, 
and Dolly would stand in the middle of a band of music 
and seemed to enjoy it, and I could ride her up to a 
Locomotive and rest her nose on the cylinder, when her 
head was enveloped in steam. Dolly was as cunning as 
a trick horse in the circus, would walk a plank, and, at 
the signal of the reins, without a word, break into full 
run before a wagon, and stop without a word at a certain 
touch of the reins. She died of goitre. I thought I 
ought to have Posy shot when she got decrepit, but I 
will never again kill a pet. Life, even in misery, may 
be as sweet to animals as to human beings. 

"I had two steeple-chase grounds on my own place, 
and yet I was fifty years old before I got a 'sockdolager.' 
A brute of a horse jumped into the air, kicked at the 



224 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

same time, and came down with so much force, on a 
gravel road, that his fore legs gave way and he landed 
square on his head. I landed plump on my face, and 
smashed it up generally. This was six years before I 
write, and I am not entirely over the consequences yet. 

"I got up, washed the gravel out of my mouth, and 
the blood off my face, rode that infernal chestnut into 
good behavior, then drove him tvv^elve miles, came home, 
went to bed, and had a fever. I couldn't eat for weeks, 
and eventually I lost four or five back teeth. My head 
was bent square back by the fall, and the doctors said 
that if I had weighed twenty-five pounds heavier, my 
neck must have been inevitably broken. I have lain 
three times like dead by the side of my fallen horse, but 
I never got such a jar as this. I have never been the 
same rider since, for the agony that I suffered at inter- 
vals for years is something beyond the power of the pen 
to express. 

"Sleighing was my delight. I built two sleighs, 
different sizes, with runners shod with pot-metal, having 
long curves, somewhat on the Esquimaux pattern, and 
in them, with a pair of jumping mares, I could cross 
the country as in steeple-chasing. Stone walls, board 
fences, logs of the largest size, saplings that would bend 
under the weight of the sleigh, everything but a new 
post and rail barrier, were no obstacles. I could jump 
a ditch eight or ten feet wide, four-in-hand, and on 
horseback scarcely anything could stop me. I have done 
things that astonished experts. 

"Now I cannot ride with comfort, especially since I 
broke four ribs, running into a barbed wire fence in the 
woods, and I have to go jogging along the roads, which 
to me is tame work. My second son. Colonel Fred, who 
distinguished himself so greatly during the Civil War, 
especially for his ride of seventy or eighty miles, if not 
more, at the time of the Battle of Bull Run, first, to be 
present in that conflict, was, I must concede, an even 
more extraordinary rider than I was, great as was my 
reputation for cross-country work. My eldest son, 



BEIGADIEE-GENERAL 235 

Colonel Watts of the Artillery, was another remarkable 
rider. 

"The following is an instance of my reputation as to 
hazardous riding and driving. One day, within two years, 
I started with Dean R. W. Oliver, of Nebraska, to drive 
my pair of black mares, Molly and Folly, to go from 
Rose Hill, my home, and drive to the Hermitage, on the 
north shore of Roeliff Jansen's creek, one of the most 
curious of the old Livingston homesteads, so embowered 
with Balm of Gilead trees, perhaps one hundred years 
old, that it is in deep shadow even at the brightest 
noontide. On the way I stopped at the Lutheran church 
to ask an old acquaintance the shortest road to Dale's 
Bridge, which I had to cross. *How far is it?' *Two 
or three miles,' was the answer. 'Two or three miles !' 
1 replied, 'Why it must be six or eight ! You are fooling 
me ! Two or three miles ! Yes, as the crow flies.' 
'Exactly so,' he answered. 'That is the way you go 
when you want to get to a place. Do I not know how 
you cross country? Have I not often seen you jumping 
and clearing everything in the way?' He was right. 
But those days are 'done gone.' " 

On 9 May, 1851, Colonel de Peyster was commissioned 
Brigadier-General with rank from 7 May, 1851, by Gov- 
ernor Washington Hunt. This was the first appoint- 
ment of the kind in the State, elevation to the rank 
having theretofore been by election. We give a copy of 
the Governor's letter to General de Peyster, dated 12 
May, 1851. 

"It gives me pleasure to transmit to you the enclosed 
commission, creating you the Brigadier- General of the 
9th Brigade, which has been forwarded to me here by 
the Adjutant-General for my signature. 

"The subject of uniform, &c., which you suggested to 
the Adjutant-General, will be considered and acted upon 
after my return to Albany, with every disposition to 
give effect to your views." 

A copy of the commission follows: 

"THE PEOPLE OP THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 

15 



226 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEK 

"TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL 
COME: 

"KNOW YE, That pursuant to the Constitution and 
Laws of our said State, We have appointed and consti- 
tuted, and by these presents do appoint and constitute 
J. Watts de Peyster, of Tivoli, in the County of Duchess, 
Brigadier-General of the Ninth Brigade of the Militia 
of our said State, with rank from May 7, 1851, to hold 
the said office in the manner specified in and by our said 
Constitution and Laws, 

"IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, We have caused 
our Seal for Military Commissions to be hereunto 
affixed. Witness, WASHINGTON HUNT, Gov- 
ernor of our said State and Commander-in-Chief 
of the Military and Naval Forces of the same, at 
our city of Albany, the ninth day of May, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
fifty-one. 
"(L. S.) "Washington Hunt. 

"PASSED THE ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE. 
"L. Ward Smith, 

"Adjutant-General." 
We also give General Orders, Number 354, dated at 
Albany, 19 May, 1851, and signed by Adjutant-General 
L. Ward Smith, which assigned General de Peyster to 
the command of the Ninth Brigade : 

"The Commander-in-Chief hereby orders and directs 
that so much of General Orders issued June 12, 1847, 
as assigns the command of the Ninth Brigade to 
Brigadier-General Jacob S. Scofield be and the same 
hereby is countermanded. 

"Brig. General J. Watts de Peyster having been duly 
appointed and commissioned will assume command of 
the said Brigade, and the officers attached to the several 
Regiments comprising said Brigade will report to him 
for duty. 

"Brig. Gen'l de Peyster is charged with the duty of 
promulgating this order. 

"By order of the Commander-in-Chief." 



BEIGADIER-GENEEAL 227 

As brigade commander, General de Peyster was given 
full authority to prescribe the uniform and equipments 
of himself and Staff, as had been the case while he was 
colonel. General Orders, Xumber 362, dated 2 June, 
1851, and signed by Adjutant-General Smith, delegated 
this power to him : 

"The Commander-in-Chief hereby orders and directs 
that J. Watts de Peyster, Brigadier General of the Ninth 
Brigade, Third Division, N. Y. M., shall have the power 
to prescribe the undress uniform of himself and staff, 
and to make such alterations, &c., in the full dress 
uniform, equipments and horse furniture thereof, as he 
shall deem proper and advisable, and also that at all 
parades, and courts martial, full or undress uniform, in 
whole or part, may be worn or may be determined in 
orders." 

This commission as brigadier-general, together with a 
subsequent appointment as military agent of the State, 
came as a disappointment, although they led to conse- 
quences of the greatest importance to the entire country. 
Colonel de Peyster had been instrumental in securing 
the passage of a militia bill creating the office of 
Inspector-General, and, with the election of Governor 
Hunt, it was understood that he should be appointed to 
this office. For political reasons another was appointed, 
who, it was understood, would make his military duties 
subservient to the more important task of furthering the 
interests of his political party. General de Peyster has 
given us an account of the matter in his reminiscences. 

"In 1850-1851 I had been very instrumental in passing 
a Militia bill. I had received the only medal for faitliful 
service ever issued in the State of New York, and I was 
well known to Thurlow Weed through my friend. Senator 
Beekman. I had accomplished the creation of the office 
of Inspector-General. I was to have it. Thurlow Weed 
asked me if I was an adroit politician, good stump- 
speaker, and aware of the political opportunities afforded 
by the office, if given to a cunning politician, who, 
through the performance of the duties of the office, had 



228 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

an excuse for visiting every township in the State. I 
answered, 'I am neither a wire-puller nor a stump- 
speaker, but a soldier, by instinct and experience.' 
Thereupon he compelled Washington Hunt to appoint 
Benjamin F. Bruce Inspector-General, a slab-sided wash- 
basket. You will understand the simile if you have ever 
seen a loose-knit wash-basket (as 1 have) in a seaway. 
It gives out and takes m water, and twists and squirms 
as if it had no normal shape. 

"As a sop to Cerberus, Hunt selected me as the first 
brigadier-general, by appointment, in the State, and 
made me Military Agent to Europe. I was endorsed 
by the general government, with the amplest powers, 
such as were never before given to a State officer, and 
have not been since. My Eeport foreshadowed very 
many improvements since carried into effect, and I was 
ahead of the United States Commission in recommend- 
ing the Napoleon gun, which was the gun of the Civil 
War, a paid Fire Department, with steam fire engines, 
the present system of fighting infantry, &c. Jefferson 
Davis, then Secretary of War, wrote me a most compli- 
mentary letter, and Governor Hunt gave me a 
magnificent gold medal." 

Soon after receiving his commission, Brigadier-General 
de Peyster was designated, 29 Jul}', 1851, to visit Europe 
and report upon such features of the various militia 
systems there as might be adopted, with advantage, in 
America — virtually an appointment as Military Agent of 
the State of New York. In the fall of 1851 he went 
abroad. Previously, however, during the spring and 
summer of 1851, as brigade commander in the field, he 
maintained the high reputation which he had already 
established for efficiency. The following tribute to his 
attention to details was issued from the office of the 
Commissary-General of the State of New York, dated 
13 August, 1851, and signed by Brigadier-General D. 
A. Lee, Commissary General: 

"GENERAL J. WATTS DE PEYSTER, both while 
in command of the 22d Regiment, N. Y. S. Troops, and 



BRIGADIEE-GENERAL 239 

since promoted to the Command of the 9th Brigade, has 
been distinguished for his constant attention to the 
details connected (with) Ordnance and Ordnance 
Stores. His returns have been the most correct of any 
received at this office." 

On 29 July, 1851, the date of General de Peyster's 
commission to visit Europe, a certificate enumerating his 
services to the militia of the State, up to that time, was 
issued by Adjutant-General Smith. 

"I HEEEBY CEETIFY," wrote General Smith, 
''^That J. Watts de Peyster was on the 18th day of 
September, 1845, commissioned Judge Advocate with the 
rank of Major, from the 16th day of Sept'r, in the same 
year, in the Staff of Philip H. Lasher, Brigadier General 
of the 20th Brigade, 7th Division, New York State 
Infantry, 

"And on the 25th day of August, 1846, commissioned 
Colonel of the 111th Eegiment, 20th Brigade, 7th 
Division, New York State Infantry, with rank from the 
15th day of Aug't in the same year under the Organiza- 
tion of 1835, 

"And on the 3d day of September, 1849, for meritori- 
ous conduct, assigned to the Command of the 22d 
Eegiment, 9th Brigade, 3d Division, New York State 
Troops, under the Organization of 1847-49, 

"And on the 9th day of May, 1851, for important 
service, commissioned by His Excellency, Washington 
Hunt, Governor of the State of New York, and Com- 
mander-in-Chief of the Military Forces thereof. Brigadier 
General of the 9th Brigade, 3d Division, New York State 
Troops, with rank from the 7th day of May, in the same 
year, under the Act of April 16th, 1851, amending the 
Organization of 1847-49, 

"And that in order to Indicate Service he is entitled 
to wear the Medal designated therefor, inscribed with the 
figure (6) six." 

Special Orders, dated 8 September, 1851, and signed 
by Adjutant-General Smith, describe the medal, or 
"Badge of Distinction," referred to in the above certifi- 



230 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

cate. We learn from it that this decoration was 
conferred "for zeal, devotedness and meritorious military 
conduct displayed in organizing a diflficult District." We 
give the text of these Orders. 

"For zeal, devotedness and meritorious military 
conduct, displayed in organizing a difficult District, and 
in pusuance of certificates of service granted on the 29th 
day of July, 1851, and sanctioned by Washington Hunt, 
Commander-in-Chief of the Military Forces of the State 
of New York, J. Watts de Peyster, of Tivoli, Duchess 
County, Brigadier General N". Y. S. Troops, is hereby 
authorized to wear on his left breast the following Badge 
of distinction, viz: A medal of gold one (1) inch in 
diameter, the obverse chased and inscribed in the center, 
four-tenths (4-10) of an inch long, with the figure six 
(6), denoting length of service, and below with the 
immber of current year, 1851 — and on the reverse, 

" 'For Zeal, Devotion and Meritorious Service. 
J. Watts de Peyster, 

Major, leth'Sept'r, 1845; 
Colonel, 15th Aug., 1846; 
Brig. Gen'l, 7th May, 1851.'" 

In addition to his field work as a brigade commander, 
General de Peyster began to wield his pen, in the further- 
ance of reforms and the dissemination of correct military 
ideas. In 1850, the winter of 1850-51, and the spring of 
1851, a number of articles by him appeared in the United 
Service Journal. These were the first of a long series of 
military writings which he was to continue to put forth 
for more than half a century. 



CHAPTER XXII 

ASSIGNED TO VISIT EUROPE 

As we have seen. General de Peyster records the fact 
that his appointment as Military Agent was "a sop to 
Cerberus," the office of Inspector-General, created for 
him, having been given to another on the ground of 
political expediency. No one, however, who carefully 
studies the reports made by General de Peyster as Mili- 
tary Agent, and their important bearing upon the Civil 
War, which soon afterward overwhelmed the country, can 
fail to recognize a guiding Providence in this readjust- 
ment of plans. Valuable as his services would have been 
as Inspector-General, this office, necessarily, must have 
centered the General's efforts upon minor details, and, in 
view of the prevalent antagonism to reforms, insuperable 
obstacles and final disappointment must inevitably have 
confronted him. The influence of his military reports, 
on the other hand, was far-reaching, national in scope, 
and peculiarly opportune, in view of the rapidly 
approaching struggle between the North and South. 

A copy of the General Orders granting leave of absence 
to General de Peyster to visit Europe is here given. 

"By order of the Commander-in-Chief leave of absence 
for two years (or as much longer as may be necessary 
to carry out the instructions received from this office, 
provided same shall not exceed three years) is granted to 
J. Watts de Peyster, Brigadier General of the 9th 
Brigade, 3d Division of the Military Forces of the State 
of New York, to enable him to visit Europe and Inspect 
and Eeport upon the Ordnance, Artillery and Municipal 
Military Systems of the countries he may deem advisable 
to visit. 

"As Brigader General de Peyster has been engaged for 
some time in experimenting with Artillery as adapted to 

231 



232 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

the State Service, he will pay particular attention to 
everything connected with that branch of the service. 

"Wm. P. Wainwrght, Colonel of the 32d Eeg't, 
N". Y. S. Troops, will assume the command of the 9th 
Brigade during the absence of Gen'l de Peyster and 
promulgate this order throughout the 9th Brigade 
District.'^* 

Governor Washington Hunt granted leave of absence 
and issued special orders, as follows: 

"STATE OF NEW YOEK, 

"EXECUTIVE DEPAETMENT, 
"Albany, 29th July, 1851. 
"TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PEESENTS SHALL 
COME : 

"KNOW YE, That whereas J. Watts de Peyster, Briga- 
dier General of the Militar-y Forces of our State of New 
York and Commandant of the Ninth Brigade District 
therein, has applied to us for leave of absence, to enable 
him to visit Europe for the restoration of his health ; and 
Whereas we have the fullest confidence in the ability and 
experience of General de Peyster, whom we have 
promoted for important service: 

"NOW THEEEFOEE, leave of absence for two years, 
or as long as he may deem expedient from the date 
hereof, is hereby granted; and Brigadier General de 
Peyster is hereby ordered and directed, with a view to 
promote the efficiency of the Municipal Military Systems 
of our said State, to inspect and report upon the systems 
of Ordnance and Artillery of the countries he may visit 
and also to examine into the organization of the French 
National Guard, Prussian Landwehr, Swedish Indelta, 
and all other similar Mimicipal Systems of Police and 
Defence, for the purpose of submitting the information 
thus acquired to the authorities of our said State. 

"And we do hereby commend General de Peyster to 
the favorable consideration of the Powers he may visit, 
and desire that he may receive from the Eepresentatives 

*The above,— General Orders, No. 411— are dated at Albany, 29 
July, 1851, and signed by Adjutant-General L. Ward Smith. 



ASSIGNED TO VISIT EUROPE 233 

of the United States therein, all proper aid in discharg- 
ing the duties herein specified. 

"m TESTIMONY whereof we have caused our 

privy* seal to be hereunto applied. Witness, 

WASHINGTON HUNT, Governor of our said 

State and Commander-in-Chief of the Military and 

Naval Forces of the same, at our city of Albany, 

the twenty-ninth day of July, in the 

year of our Lord one thousand eight 

hundred and fifty-one. 

(The Great Seal 

N. Y. S.) "Washington Hunt/' 

"STATE OF NEW YORK, HEADQUARTERS, 

"ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, 

"Albany, July 39, 1851. 
(The Great Seal 
N. Y. S.) "Passed the Adjutant General's Office. 

"L. Ward Smith, 
"Adjutant General of the State of New York." 
These credentials from the State officials were supple- 
mented by others from the National Government. A 
letter dated from the Department of State, Washington, 
9 September, 1851, and addressed "To the Diplomatic 
Agents and Consuls of the United States in Europe," 
was signed by Acting Secretary of State W. S. Derrick. 
"This letter," he wrote, "will be handed to you by J. 
Watts de Peyster, Brigadier General of the Military 
Forces of the State of New York, and Commandant of 
the Ninth Brigade District therein, who has been 
recommended to this Department by Washington Hunt, 
Governor of the State of New York, as one of the most 
useful and accomplished officers in the Military Organi- 
zation of that State. 

"Gen'l de Peyster goes abroad under orders from 
Gov'r Hunt, to inspect and report upon the Systems of 
Ordnance and Artillery of the countries he may visit. 



♦This was a clerical error. The great seal, only used when the 
Governo r exerts hia highest prerogatives, was actually affixed to these 
credentials. 



234 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

with a view of promoting the efficiency of the Municipal 
Military Systems of his State. 

"I take great pleasure in commending him to you, and 
in bespeaking for him during his sojourn in your neigh- 
borhood such facilities for promoting the object of his 
mission, and such good offices as it may be in your power 
to afford him." 

General de Peyster also carried seven letters of 
introduction, dated at Washington, 10 September, 1851, 
and signed by C. M. Conrad, Secretary of War. Each 
letter was a duplicate of the following : 

"Allow me to introduce to your acquaintance. General 
J. Watts de Peyster. 

"General de Peyster holds a high military rank in the 
Militia of his State (New York), and is about to visit 
Europe on a mission from the Governor of that State, 
with a view to the acquisition of such information 
relative to the militia systems and establishments of 
different foreign countries as may aid in improving and 
perfecting that of his own State. 

"You will oblige me, and render a service to the State 
of New York, by affording him all the aid and facilities 
which your official station will enable you to afford in the 
attainment of his object."* 

Thus equipped, General de Peyster sailed for Europe 
in the fall of 1851, and spent the winter of 1851-52 in 
the study of foreign military systems. He returned in 
the spring or early summer of 1852, and at his country 
home, "Eose Hill," prepared two reports, addressed to 
Governor Washington Hunt. They were privately 
printed for General de Peyster, and, in this form, were 
submitted to the Governor, who expressed his appre- 
ciation of the valuable service rendered to the State bv 



♦The seven letters were addressed, respectively, to Hon. William 
C. Rivers, Envoy Extraordinary, Paris, France ; Hon. Daniel B. 
Barnard, Envoy Extraordinary, Berlin, Prussia ; Hon. N. D. Brown, 
Envoy Extraordinary, St. Petersburgh, Russia : Hon. William B. 
Kinney, Charge d'Affaires, Turin ; Hon. Charles N. McCurdy, Charge 
d'Affaires, Vienna, Austria ; Hon. Francis Schroeder, Charge d'Af- 
faires, Stockholm, Sweden, and Hon. E. Joy Morris, Charge d'Affaires, 
Naples, Italy. 




JOHN WA.TTS DE PEYSTEK 
In 1852 



ASSIGNED TO VISIT EUEOPE 235 

presenting to General de Peyster a special gold medal. 
This graceful tribute he announced in a letter dated 10 
November, 1852. 

"I esteem it at once a pleasure and a duty," he wrote, 
'"to express to you my high appreciation of the value 
and importance of your recent Report on the Military 
Systems of the countries which you have visited in 
Europe. The ability and fidelity with which you dis- 
charged the duty confided to you, and the enlightened 
zeal which you have manifested in promoting a better 
military organization, entitle you to the most distin- 
guished approbation. 

"As an additional testimonial of the just estimate 
which I have placed upon your official services, and as 
a tribute of my regard for you personally, I have ordered 
an appropriate gold medal* to be prepared and presented 
to you; and in consideration of the friendly sentiments 
which this token is intended to express and perpetuate, 
I trust you will deem it worthy of your acceptance.'' 

The first of these reports, on the Military Systems of 
Europe, was dated from Tivoli, New York, 1 July, 1852. 
The second, on the French and Florentine Fire Depart- 
ments and their application to the City and Rural Fire 
Services of the State of New York, was dated from 
Tivoli, 16 August, 1852. These reports were brought 
to the attention of Governor Horatio Seymour, Governor 
Hunt's successor in office, on 1 January, 1853, by L. W. 
Smith, Adjutant-General of the State, in the latter's 
Report for the year 1852. 

"In pursuance of the orders and instructions of the 
Commander-in-Chief," writes the Adjutant-General, 
"Brigadier General J. Watts de Peyster, of Tivoli, in the 
county of Duchess, Commandant of the Ninth Brigade, 



♦Description of medal : Gold, massive, one and seven-eighths inches 
in diameter. Obverse : Shield and motto of the State of New York, 
and trophies, with inscription, "Washington Hunt to Brigadier-General 
J. Watts de Peyster, as a testimonial in honor of his efforts to im- 
prove the Military System of New York." Reverse: In the center, the 
crest of the State of New York encircling, as if embroidered on a 
belt, the inscription, "A Tribute to Oflacial Service and Personal 
Worth." 



236 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

N. Y. S. M., has submitted to your Excellency's 
predecessor two full and interesting military reports: 
one upon the subject of the organization of the National 
Guards and municipal military systems of Europe, and 
the artillery and arms best adapted to the State service, 
and the other respecting the organization of the French 
and Florentine fire departments, intended to show the 
practicability and utility of a thorough military organi- 
zation of fire companies. At home and abroad, the time, 
talents and energy of this accomplished officer have been 
devoted to the promotion of the interests of the militia. 
These reports contain a large amount of valuable 
information. They are the results of General de 
Peyster's recent personal investigation in Europe, pub- 
lished at his own expense, and transmitted herewith for 
the use and examination of the Legislature. 

"Many of his suggestions for changes in militia laws 
are entitled to the consideration of those who may 
undertake the revision of the militia laws of the State." 

The two reports were published by the State of New 
York, 26 March, 1853, as Senate Document Number 
Seventy-four. In this form they are paged continuously, 
and together form a bulky treatise of two hundred and 
forty-seven printed pages, with several additional pages, 
I-IV, of errata. The list of errata the author introduces 
with the remark: "There is no excuse for these, or any, 
errata, as the State edition of this Eeport was printed 
from the private edition, wliicli latter was carefully 
revised, corrected, and published at the expense of the 
author." 

The digest of these reports, given in the several 
chapters following, has been made from the above- 
mentioned State edition — Senate Document Seventy- 
four, of the year 1853. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

THE MILITIA OF EUROPE IN 1851 

The present chapter contains a summary of General 
de Peyster's report upon the militia of the States of 
Europe. While the account still retains historical 
interest and military value, the reader must bear in mind 
that it is not necessarily an accurate description of the 
systems now in operation, but of those which were in 
existence prior to 1851. 

SWEDEN 

The Swedish Army is divided into three bodies: the 
Vaerfvade, or Standing Army, stationed in and about 
the capital, Stockholm; the Indeldta, or Militia; and 
the Landstrum, which is the conscription of uniformed 
militia. 

The Indeldta, organized by Gustavus Adolphus, is 
famous for its morality, perfect discipline, and fine 
appearance. "Morning and evening they celebrate 
religous service. Generally the Commanding Officer calls 
one of the soldiers out of the ranks and the whole corps, 
taking off their caps at once, this man repeats the Lord's 
Prayer, after which they all sing a hymn, very beauti- 
fully, and the parade is dismissed." 

The militia, drawn from the peasantry, receives pay 
only when called out, which is during a few weeks in 
summer, after the fields are sown. It consists of cavalry, 
infantry, and seamen, these latter recruited from farms 
along the coast. The commanding officers, who give 
their whole time to the service, receive lands from the 
Crown. The cavalry is furnished with arms by the 
Government, but provides its own horses. The men are 
drilled, for short periods, in company with the troops of 
the standing army, an advantage which General de 

237 



238 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Peyster consiciers of inestimable value, and the regula- 
tions of the army are adapted for their use. The 
Landsturm consists of men from twenty to twenty-five 
years of age, and its oflBcers are those of the Indeldta. 

NORWAY. 

Although the greatest military successes of Norway 
have been achieved with the rifle, the nation is enthusias- 
tic in regard to cavalry, and the militia is equipped with 
horses, each man using his horse for work and pleasure. 
The horses are under Government inspection, four times 
a year, and the soldiers receive pay for their maintenance 
only during the time of service. 

PRUSSIAN LANDWEHR. 

The Landwehr, or Militia of Prussia, is a part of the 
regular army, which enrolls some 500,000 men who are 
ready for service, in case of war, although ordinarily 
most of them are not withdrawn from their life as 
civilians. Every Prussian enters the army for five 
years; in times of peace this is shortened to three. After 
the first period of service, which is between the ages of 
twenty and twenty-five, the soldier belongs to the First 
Levy (Erstes Aufgebot, i.e., "first called out") till the age 
of thirty-two. He is then of the Second Levy (Zweites 
Aufgebot), where he remains until the age of thirty-nine; 
and lastly is enrolled in the Landstrum. This latter is 
the great body which is called out in case of war, and in 
which the men are eligible for service from the age of 
seventeen to twenty and until fifty. 

The officers of the Landwehr are retired officers of the 
regular army — non-commissioned officers, and the Jagers, 
or sharpshooters, men above the ordinary intelligence. 
They must have certificates from their late commanding 
officers attesting that they are fitted to act as officers, 
and in most cases they must have a certain income. 
There is still another class of militia officers, young men 
of education, called Freiwillige (volunteers), who are 
required to pass an examination. From time to time 



THE MILITIA OF EUROPE IN 1851 339 

they are sent back to the regular army for the purpose 
of receiving training. They are eligible, in war time, 
until the age of thirty-nine. During peace they are 
considered to be on furlough, and their commands are 
taken by specially detailed non-commissioned officers of 
the regular army, who constitute the Stamm, and are 
only temporarily connected with the Landwehr, receiving 
pay as army officers. 

The Landwehr cavalry is composed of squadrons of 
ninety-six men each, all lancers, who are specially drilled 
during their last year of service in the army. Their 
officers are the same as those of the infantry. The 
artillery is drilled at the stations of the regular army. 

There are three militia drills. First: The one-day 
drills, of which there are about twenty during the year, 
from the middle of April to the middle of July, and 
from the 1st of September to the middle of October. 
These take place on Sunday — with economy of time, 
at the expense of morals — provided that they are not 
allowed to interfere with the morning service, and that 
the men may go and return by daylight. Second : The 
Musters, also held on Sunday. They take place twice 
a year, and the lists are corrected, residences ascertained, 
orders and articles of war read and explained. On dis- 
persing, the men are required to return directly to their 
homes. Third: The Grand Drill, which occurs at least 
every other year and lasts from two to four weeks. It 
is sometimes held with that of the regular army. For 
the convenience of the farmers, the time set is the latter 
part of May or the first of June. The men are in 
uniform, which only differs from that of the army in its 
facings, collars, etc. 

The "Warnings to Drill" are served by the civil 
magistrate, in cases where the person to be served is not 
at his home. The magistrate also receives all excuses 
for non-appearance at drill, and the person wishing to 
be excused must attend the drill unless he receives notice 
of his exemption. During these drills the men are paid 
fifteen silver groschens a day (about thirty-six cents). 



240 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

The uniforms of the privates are furnished by the State 
and are expected to last ten years. They are kept at the 
armories, and, unless condemned as worn out, are never 
taken away by the men. 

Absence from drill, without excuse, is punished with 
three days' imprisonment on bread and water, or a judi- 
cial proceeding is instituted. In either case the 
magistrate of the district is informed. Omission of 
notice of change of address is punished with three days' 
arrest, or a fine of about one dollar. On drill, the 
discipline of the army is enforced. When vacancies 
occur among the officers of the Landwehr (not the 
Stamm), the civil authorities choose three candidates, 
one of which is selected by the corps of officers. The 
candidate must have served in the regular army and must 
be of good character. The choice is then ratified by the 
Crown. Promotions are made in the order of seniority. 

Quakers are exempted from all service by payment of 
a tax of three per cent, of their yearly income, and many 
Jews also pay for the same privilege. 

General de Peyster does not consider the system of 
Prussia suitable for the United States. "Only by intro- 
ducing her whole military system," he writes, 
"the basis of which is a standing army of more 
than a hundred thousand men, could we copy it. 
Its object is not making soldiers, but preserving 
from rust those already trained. From the army, as 
from a great school, is, in every year of peace, sent out 
some fifty thousand men (more or less), with an experi- 
ence of two or three years' service, and from the same 
source come officers eminently qualified to command 
them. We have no such school for either, but, if we 
can only provide officers, we have a vast advantage in 
the material for soldiers." 

An addenda to the report briefly characterizes the 
Landwehr as a body trained by the preliminary service 
of its members in the regular army, as privates of the 
line, and as consisting of every male of the whole 
population, between the ages of seventeen and fifty, 



THE MILITIA OF EUROPE IN 1851 241 

unless debarred by bodily infirmity, with the exception 
of the clergy, schoolmasters, and the only sons of widows. 
Eank or occupation does not exempt from the service, 
and no substitutions can be made. By a system of levies, 
the Prussian citizen is made available, during his whole 
life, as a soldier in the service of tlie State. 

MINOR GERMAN STATES AND FREE CITIES 

The Landwehr of Wurtemberg resembles that of 
Prussia in many respects. In the Grand Duchy of 
Baden it has not been regularly instituted, but the cities 
maintain voluntary guards. There is no regular 
military organization in Hesse-Darmstadt. In Saxony 
there are two Reserves, much like the Landwehr of 
Prussia, with burgher guards in all the cities. In Hesse- 
Cassel there are civic guards, much like the National 
Guard of France. In the Kingdom of Hanover, and in 
many Duchies, there is no militia system proper, but the 
army seems to be organized like that of the Sardinian 
States. 

The military authority of the free cities, Hamburg 
and Lubeck, is vested in their war departments, of which, 
in the former city, the chief burgomaster is President. 
In the latter, the war department is administered by a 
staff of officers. In Bremen military affairs are directed 
by a commission composed of Senators. 

In 1832 these free cities, together with the Duchy of 
Oldenberg, entered into a compact to form a brigade. 
They maintain a militia of over thirty-eight thousand 
men. 

AUSTRIA 

In Austria the militia is utilized as a frontier guard, 
originated by Prince Eugene, of Savoy, for defence 
against the Turks, and carried into effect by Marshal 
Lascy. During times of peace it is used for maintaining 
the quarantine and customs regulations. It is so well 
organized tliat only about four thousand men are needed 
to protect eight hundred miles of frontier. These 
support themselves and pay taxes. 

16 



242 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

The land is divided into fiefs and given to families, 
sometimes consisting of several married persons, who 
live under the same roof, in community. The eldest 
man and woman, called the house-father and the house- 
mother, have control of all the other members. These 
families perform service for the State in repairing 
roads, and bridges, draining swamps, etc., during one 
day in the year for each English acre they own, and 
eight days for the village. They are not allowed to 
sell these fiefs. The land tax amounts to fifteen or 
thirty shillings a year, and furnishes the uniforms; the 
arms, boots, etc., are supplied by the State. 

In times of peace the borderer is required to go to 
the military stations, for seven days at a time, for drill, 
his family supplying him with food. During war with 
the Turks, or during the plague, the number of men is 
increased to six thousand, and sometimes to ten thousand. 
In war the militia forms part of the regular army, and 
may be sent out of the country. The regular force 
amounts to forty thousand, but, with the addition of the 
Eeserve and the Landwehr, it is nearly one hundred 
thousand. In the short time of four hours the entire 
force on the frontier can be mustered out by signal fires 
and alarm bells. 

RUSSIA. 

Eussia's militia system differs but slightly from the 
military communities of Austria, with the addition of 
light cavalr}^, recruited from the Tartar tribes. It was 
established by the Emperor Alexander in 1818, under the 
direction of General Araktschejef, the Minister of War. 
Afterward, in 1821, General De Witt organized a better 
system, which depended on the distribution of large 
tracts of land by the Government. General de Peyster 
suggests that this system could be adapted for our 
western and Mexican frontiers, which, at the time he 
wrote, were the scene of Indian fighting. 

The land was given to tlie Eussian heads of families 
at the rate of about forty-five acres each. One village 



THE MILITIA OF EUROPE IN 1851 343 

was built for each squadron, and furnished with a church, 
school, hospital, stables, magazine for forage and crops, 
residences for officers, and one hundred and eighty farm 
houses, with out-buildings. In the centre of the land 
awarded to the regiment is the barracks, riding school, etc. 

The major-general, who corresponds to our brigadier- 
general, and his staff, live near the two regiments which 
compose his brigade, and the headquarters of the general 
commanding are in the centre of the district occupied 
by the troops. The stock, implements, etc., required for 
the cultivation of the land, are furnished by the Crown, 
and the farmer must contribute to the general magazine 
of the village, and to the repairing of roads, etc. After 
these demands are met, the remainder belongs to him. 

To each farmer is assigned a soldier, to be maintained 
by him, but when not on duty, his services are to be 
given to the farm. The colonists, as well as the soldiers, 
must wear a uniform, and are clean-shaven, under the 
military law, although the former are in no other way 
under military authority. A staff, or cadre, administers 
the laws, and is the civil authority. The brigadier- 
general decides any difficulty which occurs between the 
colonel of the troops and the colonel of the district. In 
each village is a tribunal, composed of the chief of the 
squadron, president, the priest, three military judges, 
and three colonists, who hear the civil cases. All 
criminal cases are tried by a council of war. 

The male children are well educated, taught a trade, 
and also brought up to be soldiers, each village furnish- 
ing eight for every thousand of population. In case 
of the sickness or death of a soldier, the son of the 
colonist, or some other member of his family, must take 
his place. There are colonies composed of veterans, 
connected with the forts, and also among the Cossacks, 
on the Siberian frontier. 

FRANCE. 

The law of 23 March, 1831, entirely reorganized the 
National Guard of France, and but few changes have 



244 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

been made since that time. By a decree of the President, 
11 January, 1852, the Guard was disbanded, and imme- 
diately reorganized under a system almost identical with 
that in use before its disbandment, except in regard to 
the uniform, which was almost entirely changed. 
General de Peyster gives translations of the articles of 
the law which accomplished the last organization. 

The National Guard is divided into two parts: first, 
for service in the interior of the commune; second, for 
service by detached corps, in aiding troops of the line. 
The intention of the Governmeiit is to make this body 
a local force. It can be dissolved by the President, but 
may be reorganized in two years. The Minister of the 
Interior is at the head of the National Guard, as the 
Minister of War is of the army, and it is therefore under 
the authority of the mayor's prefects and sub-prefects. 
In some cases, however, it is under the command of the 
military authorities. It cannot take arms, or assemble, 
without orders from the commandants, who cannot order 
it out without a requisition from the civil authority. 

Every man from twenty to sixty years of age must 
serve, with the exception of magistrates, ministers of the 
gospel, students of divinity, officers, active or retired, of 
the army and navy, officers in the employ of the Govern- 
ment, those over fifty years old who have served for 
twenty years, and all who have bodily infirmities. All 
persons convicted of crime, and vagrants, are ineligible. 

The National Guard is divided into two parts, the 
ordinary and extraordinary, the latter only being called 
out in extremity, and consisting of persons who cannot 
serve habitually, such as domestic and body servants, etc. 
Substitution is allowed between members of a family, 
provided they are of the same company. Foreigners who 
enjoy civil rights must serve. It is considered an honor 
to be enrolled in its ranks, and the register of each 
commune in the Mayor's office is open for inspection by 
the public for the correction of omissions, etc. 

The enrollment is made by the council of examination, 
composed of officers differing in the cases of companies, 



THE MILITIA OF EUROPE IN 1851 245 

battalions, etc. Each year, in January, the names of 
men in their twentieth year are enrolled, although they 
do not serve until they attain the age of twenty, and 
also those persons who have come to the commune during 
that period. The names of those over sixty, and of those 
who have died or left the district, are removed from the 
rolls. Appeal from the decisions of the councils of 
examination may be made to the jury of revision, of 
which there is one in each canton, and of which the 
President is the Judge. At Paris this jury is presided 
over by the Chief of the General Staff. 

The National Guard is organized by platoons, com- 
panies, battalions, and legions of infantry. Special 
corps of cavalry, artillery, engineers, and firemen 
(Sapeurs Pompiers) can only be created by the Minister 
of the Interior. Along the seacoast the population is 
drilled, and corresponds somewhat to our marines. 

There is no honorary ranking in the National Guard. 
Arms are supplied and inspected by the Government. 
When serving with the regular paid corps, it takes 
precedence over it, although the general command is 
under officers of the highest ranks in the regular army. 
In each legion and battalion, a council of administration 
gives an annual report of the disbursement of funds. 
All regulations are determined, for the Department of 
the Seine, by the Minister of the Interior, and for those 
of the other departments, by the mayors. On recom- 
mendation of the commander, special laws are made in 
time of war. 

Perfect discipline is maintained, but the soldier has 
the right to prefer complaints to the chief of his corps. 
Punishments consist of extra duty, for light offences, 
and imprisonment for those which are more grave, or 
the offender may be arraigned before a council of discip- 
line, which may punish in the following manners: first, 
reprimand; second, reprimand avec raise a I'ordre (i.e., 
stating the grounds for the order or sentence) ; third, 
imprisonment for from six hours to three days; fourth, 
degrading; fifth, removal from the Muster Roll. When 



246 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

there is no prison or place of detention, a fine may be 
paid in lieu of imprisonment. 

Officers may be punished for non-performance of duty, 
infractions of the laws, absence from post, inaccuracy in 
returns of offences committed by subordinates, disobedi- 
ence, want of respect for superiors, and abuse of 
authority. The families of those wounded in service are 
pensioned by the Government. 

SARDINIAN STATES. 

General de Peyster declares that the militia system of 
Sardinia possesses all the weakness of that of Prussia, 
and none of its strength. It is composed of volunteers, 
with bounty, and a conscription draft. The term of 
service is sixteen years. A conscript must serve two 
years, without interruption, after which he is at the 
disposal of the Government for eight years, in his home 
district. He is then enrolled in the Eeserve for six 
years longer. 

TUSCANY. 

The Tuscan Active Civic Guard is almost identical 
with that of the National Guard of France, which was 
the model after which were patterned the militia of 
Eevolutionary Europe in 1848. The uniform, laws, and, 
in some cases, the language, were adopted, and even now 
the traveler in Naples, Rome, and Tuscany, sees the 
loose red trousers and fez of the Zouave, introduced into 
France by Napoleon. 

HOLLAND. 

The militia system of the Netherlands General de 
Peyster considers the simplest and most effectual of 
Europe. Every regiment of the line has, attached to it, 
dormant militia companies, which, at times, join the 
ranks of the regular army, and in a remarkably short 
space of time acquire the skill and military spirit of 
veterans. 



THE MILITIA OF EUROPE IN 1851 247 

TURKEY. 

The militia system of Turkey is very similar to that 
of Prussia. There are six armies, each consisting of two 
services, the Active, and the Reserve, the latter, much 
like the Landwehr, composed of men who have served for 
five years in the Active force. After leaving the Active 
service, they do not receive pay for seven years, for 
reasons of economy. The regiments are raised from the 
same localities, so that the men are personally known 
to each other, and a spirit of comradeship is kept up. 
Many improvements are due to French officers, exiled 
for political reasons. 

REGENCY OF TUNIS. 

The Bey of Tunis is practically independent, and the 
Regency exists only in name. A large proportion of the 
army is under military discipline, copied from the 
systems of Europe. It consists of ahout twenty thousand 
men, exclusive of tlie x4rab tribes, which are only utilized 
in case of necessity. These would add forty or fifty 
thousand more to the fighting force. Cannon and 
clothing for the troops are manufactured. There are 
powder mills and a fine barracks in and near the capital, 
one of which would contain five thousand men. 

The regular army consists of eight thousand men, 
chiefly under the instruction of French officers. There 
are three regiments of infantry, of from one thousand 
five hundred to two thousand men each. The arms and 
equipments are modeled after those of Europe, but are 
heavy and old-fashioned. The soldiers, drawn from the 
lowest classes of the population, present an unsoldierlike 
appearance, but manoeuvre very fairly, considering how 
opposed the drill is to their habits of warfare. 

At Tunis, under the eye of the Bey, a show of disci- 
pline is kept up, but in tlie country districts the lawless- 
ness of the soldiers is a terror to the population. This 
is almost entirely caused by the treatment the troops 
receive at the hands of the officers, who give them 



248 JOHN" WATTS DB PEYSTER 

miserable rations and cheat the Government of the funds 
provided for that purpose. Notwithstanding this treat- 
ment, they are not without courage, and at the time when 
war was expected with Sardinia, their camps and 
defences were very creditable. 

General de Peyster made an inspection of the barracks 
of the cavalry, which arm consisted of about nine 
hundred men. He found the barracks clean, furnished 
with iron bedsteads, and the arms kept in good condition. 
In the regimental workshops the soldiers made their own 
clothing. In the armorer's sliop the carbines examined 
were equal to those of the French. The hospital was well 
conducted. An assistant, educated in Italy, was engaged 
in compounding medicine. The stable consisted of a 
shed, built around an enclosure; the horses were hardy 
and serviceable. General de Peyster's visit was 
unexpected, and he found the barracks in its everyday 
dress. 

The artillery consists of a single regiment of about 
one thousand men. The militia (Turcos) are called 
Zouaves. Rank is denoted by crescents, suspended from 
the neck, formerly the custom in the Turkish army also. 
The latter now makes use of epaulettes, on account 
of the enormous expense of crescents, ornamented with 
diamonds, for the highest ranks. 



CHAPTEK XXIV 

PROPOSED REFORM OF THE NEW YORK MILITIA 

General de Peyster's comments upon the militia of the 
countries visited by him, his suggestions of features 
which could be adopted with advantage by the State of 
New York and other States of the Union, and his 
proposed reform, based upon iiis studies, are of the 
greatest value. A considerable part of these deductions 
and recommendations, with which his report begins, we 
give in their author's own language. 

"STATE OF NEW YOKK. 

"No. 74. 

"IN SENATE, MARCH 26, 1853. 

"Eeport 
"As to the organization of the Militia, &c., by 
"Brigadier General J. Watts de Peyster. 
"Headquarters, 9th Brigade, 
"3d Division, N. Y. S. T., 
"Tivoli P. 0., 1st July, 1852. 
"To His Excellency Washington Hunt, 

"Governor of the State of New York, and Comman- 
"der-in-Chief of the Military Forces, thereof : 
"Your Excellency: — In pursuance of the instructions 
contained in the General Orders No. 411, and powers 
conferred upon me 29th of July, 1851, &c., &c., to 
investigate the Organizations of the National Guards and 
Municipal Military systems of Europe, and the Systems 
of Ordnance and Artillery best adapted to the Military 
Service of this State, I have the honor to submit the 
following Eeport on the subjects to which my attention 
was specially directed. 

"After examination abroad of laws and publications 
relating thereto, reported results, and consultation with 
officers of rank and experience who have given their 

, 249 



250 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

attention to similar matters, the best conclusion at which 
I can arrive, is that there are no systems which in 
themselves are applicable to our institutions and popula- 
tion. The most eflBcient differ but little from the laws 
which govern the regular forces of the same nation, while 
those which resemble our own system, like it, cannot be 
relied on in pressing emergencies. 

"1 will hereinafter endeavor as succinctly as possible, 
to explain the present different European organizations, 
referring for minute particulars to documents collected 
throughout my military tour and submitted herewith. I 
will then respectfully submit my own views of the wants 
and weakness of the military force of our State, and the 
means by which its efficiency can be promoted, in the 
statement of which I do not presume to rely on my own 
judgment, but append a list of those military authorities 
which justify the positions I have assumed ; still I doubt 
if the present Militia Law of the State is constitutional, 
or if any organization can become so whose provisions 
differ from those of the Acts of Congress, relating to 
the Militia of the United States, approved May 8, 1792, 
and March 2, 1803. 

"In Military States no dependence whatever is placed 
on that popular force wliich we term Militia. The 
National or Civic Guards are equivalent to our 
uniformed volunteer companies. Even they are barely 
tolerated, and have been disbanded as soon as the govern- 
ment possessed the requisite authority, as powerless for 
good and fruitful of evil, or else placed under tlie same 
severe laws which govern the regular forces. And except 
in the Sardinian States, they can be disbanded at any 
moment, in whole or in part, by the order of their 
sovereign. 

"In Sweden, Prussia and the minor German States, 
that organization (whose characteristics resemble Militia) 
is an integral part of tlie regular army. In all these there 
are elements worthy consideration and application at 
home. In Austria and Eussia the Military Colonies 
are governed by such absolute laws, and subjected to 



PROPOSED REFOEM OF MILITIA 251 

such severe discipline, that they can only be considered 
as an armament subsidiary to the regular forces. From 
these systems we can glean almost nothing whatever, for 
laws, oppressive even in appearance, could never be 
enforced in this State. 

"In France the ranks of the National Guard are filled 
by the middle classes, and thus it has possessed a moral 
power it never could have exerted as a military force. 
At the present moment it exists, from hour to hour, as 
a concession to the Bourgeoisie, but it will be dissolved 
the moment its members evince the slightest disposition 
to reason on the acts of the President. Many of the 
provisions of tliis system are beneficial, and should be 
incorporated in the present or any future organization 
of our Militia. 

"In the Sardinian States the jSTational Guards of 
Genoa, 5,000 strong, are a very fine body of well disci- 
plined men, but I can say but very little in favor of their 
appearance in other cities of the kingdom. Even those 
of Genoa are considered of little value in a really 
Military point of view, except for the defence of fortified 
places, in which, even, they have shown but little 
reliability, for in 1849 they suffered the impregnable 
lines of their native city to be taken by escalade by a 
detachment of riflemen, altho' it was reported at the time 
they were animated with the best spirit against the royal 
army; still, I must confess, in appearance and real 
discipline they are superior, as a body, to our uniformed 
volunteer corps. 

"In case of war, or internal difficulty, the French and 
Sardinian National Guard are immediately placed 
under Generals or Colonels of superior rank of the 
regular army. In Tuscany, the States of the Church 
(Roman), and Naples, the National and Civic Guards 
have been entirely disbanded, as too insurrectionary in 
their tendencies, and all the Laws relating to their 
organization in the two latter suppressed, and their 
possession or sale declared illegal under the severest 
penalties. 



253 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

"The Tuscan National Guard did not appear to have 
accomplished any of the objects of its mission, but the 
Eoman National Guard were said to have been very 
good, and maintained tranquility in the city, even during 
the turmoil of the Carnival. 

"The organization of the Neapolitan National Guard 
in 1848 was the alTair of a day, no sooner conceded to 
the people, than it was destroyed in the bloody conflict 
which overthrew the constitution by which it was 
granted. But in 1820-21 (my authority is Gen. Guil- 
laume Pepe) they not only enforced tranquility in the 
interior, but even sent eighty battalions to the frontier, 
of which thirty fought the battle of Rieti, from morning 
until sundown. This statement is all very well, but if 
they were such good troops, where are the results? 

"Now there is not a more degraded population than 
that of the two Sicilies. The fact is, our citizens do not 
appreciate the want of intelligence, self-government, and 
morality of the masses abroad ; and a comparison between 
them and our own population would be unjust and 
derogatory to the latter. In Europe, unfortunately, 
liberty is ever translated as license, and the people are 
so destitute of that moral sensibility and submission to 
the laws which form the safeguard of our institutions, 
that the freedom which we enjoy, if granted to them, 
would inevitably terminate in what is best known as 
Eed Republicanism. Therefore, I deem it most advisable 
to suggest a basis of an organization, which, at the same 
time, would comply with the requisitions of our consti- 
tution, and establish such a Militia as would serve for 
the protection of property, the defence of the State, and 
afford an auxiliary police force for the repression of riot, 
or the enforcement of Law. 

"The principal defects of the existing Militia Laws of 
the State of New York, are as follows: 

"First: The almost total absence of discipline, which 
does not mean instruction in manual exercise and evolu- 
tions alone, but also subordination, and submission to 
orders, regulation, and laws. 



PEOPOSED EEFORM OP MILITIA 353 

"Second : The weakness of our military penal code, in 
consequence of which the superior cannot enforce obedi- 
ence, or maintain that respect due to his rank. 

"Third : The election of officers. Officers, both of the 
army and of the National Guard itself in Prance, declare 
that whatever discipline and reliability existed in that 
institution, were, in a great measure, destroyed by 
conceding the election of officers. The cafe and the wine 
shop now exert their pernicious influence, where formerly 
ability and character were considered sufficient 
recommendations. 

"Pourth: The want of an institution to supply and 
practically educate a nucleus of officers, i.e., a State 
Military School or College. 

"Pifth: The want of means to pay and sustain a 
sufficient Military force, which fund can only be supplied 
by a direct capitation tax, or assessment on property, 
collected in such a manner as to prevent the odious 
features of a military tax, and equally distributed in 
proportion to the districts in which it is raised. 

"Sixth: The fact that, depending upon the volunteer 
system, portions of the State are left without any mili- 
tary force whatever, for the protection of person and 
property, in districts destitute of military spirit. 

"This could be easily remedied by resorting to draft, 
or ballot, to fill up the ranks of the few companies 
necessary as police, etc. The recruits could be supplied 
from the class of young men, for youth possesses the 
qualities best calculated to form an active and enthusi- 
astic soldier, where health is not hazarded by the 
exposure and fatigues of an active campaign. Enlistment 
might, therefore, be permitted as early as the age of 
sixteen. The most effective citizen soldiery which ever 
shouldered a musket were the Parisian Gardes, 
Rationales Mobiles, the generality of whom were what 
we should term boys. 

"Pathers of families, and men whose business is 
dependent on themselves alone, are certainly unfitted for 
the hazards of a soldier's life, and it is unjust to expose 



254 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

them against their will, to dangers which can be avoided. 
The first draft should therefore fall upon the male 
population between sixteen and twenty-five or thirty. 
But in the case of invasion, every citizen then owes a 
sacred debt to his native land. 

"Next, for what service are our Militia best suited by 
their habits and constitutional tendencies? As Riflemen 
they may be made very effective; as Guides, Estafettes, 
Scouts, &c. ; a few platoons or even corps of Cavalry may 
be organized to advantage; but as Cavalry and Infantry, 
to act in masses in the oj)en field, from the very nature 
of their organization, they can never be reliable. As Foot 
Artillery, the intelligence, activity and adaptability of our 
people can be fully developed, and all their powers 
exerted in the highest degree for the protection of our 
coasts and the defence of our most important positions. 
It is needless to dwell upon the weakness of Militia in 
the Field, or their strength behind fortifications. In 
the notes hereto appended will be found the views of 
military writers who have so ably explained these ideas 
that it would be presumption to do otherwise than quote 
their arguments and expositions of facts. 

"The wars of 1848-49 in Itajy, and, I may say, 
throughout Europe of that period, are like the hand- 
writing on the wall, as a warning of the slender 
dependence that can be placed upon the bravest Militia 
when exposed to Regulars in the open field, while the 
exploits of the National Artillery and Volunteer Corps, 
in defence of cities and lines, are written with glorious 
characters in the blood of their assailants. The siege of 
Venice, the defence of Rome, of the Sicilian cities of 
heroic Brescia, and the lines of Curtatone, are incon- 
testable proofs of the value of National Guards when 
serving with Artillery, whereas every attempt at field 
operations, or the opposition of popular armaments in 
the formation of Cavalry and Infantry, to Regulars, 
terminated in such disastrous defeats that, were it not 
for the awful sacrifices which they cost, the only term 
which could be applied to their efforts would be 
'ridiculous.' " 



PEOPOSED EEFORM OF MILITIA 255 

General de Peyster suggests tlie establishment of a 
fund for the support of the militia by a State tax; 
arbitrary enrollment of citizens, who may be called on 
in the case of disturbance; and methods of drafting. 
He advocates the organization of fire companies under 
military discipline," and the instruction of corps of 
sappers and miners. All drills should be regulated, and 
the rosters, accounts, etc., should be verified under oath. 
Officers should pass an examination before being com- 
missioned, and ordnance and pay departments should be 
organized. 

He maintains that the State uniform should be made 
distinct from that of the regular army, advocates gray 
as the color to be used in the State of New York, and 
a system of stars to indicate rank. 

He urges a stricter code in the militia, with punish- 
ment by fines, imprisonment, etc., and the awarding of 
medals and badges for good service. 

"Some other term should be applied to uniformed 
corps than that of Militia," he writes. "It has an 
injurious effect abroad, as the word Militia is only 
applied to the last resort of nations, which implies the 
final levy or uprising of the population, with scarcely 
any organization. 'National' or 'Civic Guards' is not 
advisable, but 'State Troops,' 'State Volunteers,' 'State 
Guards,' 'State Service,' or some other equivalent title 
that would indicate an honorable profession." 

He makes an earnest plea for the enforcement of 
discipline, and speaks of the great weakness of the 
Italian army, in its wars with Austria, from its lack. 
Only through subordination to superiors can a military 
force be made perfect. Even courage itself is 
secondary. He quotes the words of Napoleon, who 
declared that no army could be successful or glorious 
which is composed of "Baionettes raisonnantes" (Reason- 
ing bayonets). He advocates the organization of the 
militia under the regulations of the army, and says, 
"In no country is the proper organization of a well- 
instructed popular military force so necessary as in the 



256 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

United States, and in no part of the United States, as 
in the State of New York, which will always be the 
theatre of the first hostilities, particularly in the event 
of a war with England, which God forbid !" 

He declares the election of ofiQcers by subordinates to 
be ruinous in its effects on discipline, and that the State 
officers too often look upon the militia as a political 
hobby. He discountenances the formation of indepen- 
dent target companies in cities, which, he says, in times 
of disturbance, will be found in the ranks of the mob. 
He refers to the Seventh Eegiment of JSTew York as an 
example of the good effects of discipline. 

The establishment of State military schools, in connec- 
tion with the public schools, he strongly advocates, and 
he speaks of the graduates of West Point, who, as officers 
in the Mexican War, changed the raw recruits into a 
trained soldiery. 

He considers that the best weapon for an intelligent, 
brave people is the rifle. It was with this that our 
nation fought in the Eevolution, the Indian Wars, and 
the War of 1812. With this the Vendean peasantry 
overcame the Republican armies in 1793, and, in 
Germany, it repelled the French troops. He believes 
that the rifle should be provided with a bayonet, and 
that it is specially adapted for our country militia. 

He says that cavalry is almost entirely unfitted for use 
in the militia of our country districts, and that unless 
a people is thoroughly accustomed to horses, and, like 
the Arabs and Tartars, have almost spent their lives 
in the saddle, when suddenly called into the field it will 
be unreliable. Not only is special training necessary for 
the men, but for the horses. The most efficient weapon 
for cavalry is the lance, and a simple company of lancers 
could easily disperse the most violent mob in case of 
riot. He quotes the narrative, by Captain Carleton, of 
the Battle of Buena Vista in the Mexican War, as follows : 
"Had tlie Arkansas * * * and Kentucky (mounted) 
volunteers never been allowed horses, they would have 
been able to make a stand." 



PEOPOSED EEFOEM OF MILITIA 357 

"Tlie other purpose of my mission," he writes, "was 
the examination of what Artillery is best adapted to the 
Militia. The object of the Militia in war is, or always 
should be, entirely defensive. I am far from wishing 
to imply the solecism that Light Artillery is not necessary 
for defensive war, and most eminently serviceable in sup- 
porting raw troops; but there is so little probability of 
its ever being brought to any useful perfection in the 
Militia, that their time and attention had better be 
devoted to the other great support of imperfectly disci- 
plined levies, the throwing up of supporting Field works, 
whenever practicable, and the management of batteries of 
position (heavy field pieces) connected therewith. Where 
the very considerable expense of horsing and thoroughly 
drilling a section of Light Artillery can and will 
be borne, let it be done by all means; but I apprehend 
there are not many such localities." 

He discusses the French field batteries. He proposes 
the howitzer as the most suitable for use in street 
fighting, citing their utility in Paris in 1848. 

Citizen artillery, he adds, has always won the admira- 
tion of soldiers by its success. In the European wars of 
1848-49, at Eome, and at Venice, its efficiency was 
demonstrated. In our country it defended Forts Moul- 
trie and McHenry, and secured the victory of Stonington. 
He considers the Massachusetts system of foot artillery 
the best adapted for the militia, and that field batteries 
should be discouraged, on account of the great expense 
of equipment and horses. The men should be taught 
the making of ammunition, and the raw supplies should 
be sent by the Government. In eases of riot, artillery is 
indispensable, on account of the effect it produces upon 
the imagination of a mob. He advises the formation 
of artillery corps by the workmen at State arsenals. 

The hospital department should be carefully regulated, 
with well-instructed surgeons, ambulance corps, and 
every care for the welfare of the troops. He earnestly 
urges the necessity of having only physicians of educa- 
tion appointed to the medical staff. 
17 



358 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

He suggests the system of military telegraphy in use 
in France and England, which consists of squads of 
soldiers raising their coats on their bayonets, and, by this 
means, representing certain words or sentences which 
may be seen by squads near by. 

He gives a careful outline of the essential points which 
should be adopted in training the militia of this country, 
based upon his study of the Prussian system. We should 
have a First Levy, like that of the Landwehr, to form 
a cadre or frame for the whole force. This could be 
recruited with volunteers, under trained officers, and 
provided with armories. Uniforms should be furnished 
the men, and kept at these armories, except when in use. 
Squad drills, once a week, should be held; company 
drills, every two or three months; and a regimental drill, 
lasting several days, once a year. 

Officers could be trained at camps of instruction; and 
a polyteclmic institute, with drill and discipline like that 
of West Point, combined with other studies, would send 
out pupils well equipped for service as officers, engineers, 
and instructors in the public schools. They might serve 
the State for a term of years, in compensation for their 
education. 

The militia officers might join in the yearly encamp- 
ment of these institutes, and military instruction in the 
public schools would be a valuable factor, in preparation 
for the militia service. The company district should be 
divided, as in the Prussian system, in order that every 
man may conveniently attend the drill, 

"In one respect, however,'^ says General de Peyster, 
"we would be far from recommending the Prussian 
system, which allots sacred time to this purpose. * * * 
Much might be said (as we know) on their reasons for 
so doing, but it may be questioned whether, among 
similar influences, this does not keep down the character 
of the soldiers. * * * * At any rate, we have no Silesian 
weavers, working for six cents per day, and find them- 
selves, nor have we that other proof of lack of time — that 
men taught to read in the public schools remain, from 



I 



PEOPOSED EEFOBM OF MILITIA 259 

want of practise, always at the measure of a child six 
years old in the facility with which they do so." 

He decries the idea of a system which would attempt 
the military training of our whole nation, saying, "It 
would cost millions and can never be necessary nor possi- 
ble, until that woeful day of which curious patriots talk 
calmly, when, by a division of the Union, two or three 
rival nations put armies on their frontiers and accustom 
their people to taxes. At the same time, if we do not 
wish to pay foreign enemies for teaching us the art of 
war, we must learn it ourselves, and practise before they 
come. In short, although we do not need a nation of 
soldiers, we need such a number of those who really 
are so that w^e cannot be taken by surprise and must 
wait until the end of the war until we are fit to oppose 
our enemies." 

He urges the enlistment of young men, over sixteen 
years of age, in the militia, where the interests of 
military exercises would supplant those of a more 
harmful character. With the appropriation of a fixed 
sum from the State for the support of the militia, it 
might be made "a. body of privates not known since the 
days of Greece and Eome, to whom their art is neither 
a pastime nor a trade, and, though a serious occupation, 
entlmsiastically enjoyed and most devotedly cultivated." 

In closing the report, he quotes the words of the 
Statistique Militaire, "Let us follow the example be- 
queathed to us by the ancient Eomans — abandon without 
regret our own customs, if better can be substituted." 



CHAPTER XXV 

ON FIRE DEPARTMENTS 

General de Peyster's report on the Parisian and Floren- 
tine fire departments was made at a time when a paid 
fire department, with steam fire engines, was unknown 
in the State of New York. His recommendations led to 
a complete reform of this branch of municipal service. 
His report begins as follows : 

"Head Quarters, 9th Brigade, 

"3d Division, N". Y. S. T. 
"Tivoli P. 0., Dutchess Co., 16th August, 1852. 
"To His Excellency, WASHINGTON HUNT, 

"Governor of the State of New York, and Commander- 
in-Chief of the Military Forces thereof : 

"Your Excellency : — Having been several years con- 
nected with the New York Fire Department, and 
acquainted with all its details of duty and material, from 
that time I became interested in the improvement of 
that neglected branch of the public service in the rural 
districts, the more especially as the continued command 
of military districts, under the Laws of 47, 49, 51, 52, 
and the previous organization of 1835, afforded constant 
opportunities of appreciating the necessity of aid against 
fire and the absolute inefficiency of the present system to 
cope with serious circumstances, requiring coup-d'oeil, 
tactics, and discipline, although well enough perhaps on 
ordinary occasions. 

"Quicksightedness (coup-d'oeil), a most precious gift 
of nature, which can be attained, however, to a great 
degree by practice and observation, is seldom available 
in this State for the arrangement of an attack on fire, 
through the recklessness and insubordination of inferiors. 
Tactics, written or traditional, there are scarcely any; 
and discipline — I maintain, and every casual and accurate 

260 



ON FIEE DEPARTMENTS 261 

observer will corroborate my assertion — discipline in its 
real signification and application is not understood (I 
might even add, dreamed of, in the rural jBre-corps) in 
our military and fire organizations. Against slight 
obstacles small means may compass success, but triumph, 
or even safety, can never be derived, under trying 
circumstances, from systems or institutions which lack 
the key-stone, obedience, and the corner-stones, responsi- 
bility and law. It is in order to insure these elements, 
that I urge so strongly a thorough military organization 
for our rural fire companies." 

He alludes to the unnecessary numbers of firemen in 
small communities, declaring that in the small village of 
Rliinebeck, New York, the number of men in the fire 
department almost equals that of the city of Florence, 
while with better discipline a smaller number would 
suffice. The history of the fire department of Paris is 
traced from its beginning, as a volunteer force, to its 
incorporation as a part of the regular army. 

In the Middle Ages the terror inspired by fire was 
almost as great as that by war or the plague. In Paris 
the alarm of fire was tolled from the belfry of the Hotel 
de Ville, and echoed by all the parish churches, while 
the wardens of the night, the ringers for the dead, as 
they were called, joined the cry of fire to their chant, 
"Sleepers awake, devoutly pray. 
For those whom God has called away." 

The Capuchin monks gave their services in attending 
those injured in fires, and some of the trade guilds 
organized corps; but there was no regular provision 
made against its fury until the year 1699, in the reign 
of Louis XIV, when M. Dumaurrier Duperrier, a provin- 
cial gentleman of noble family, on his return from 
Holland, described the fire engines he had seen, and was 
rewarded by the King with the right of their construc- 
tion and sale for thirty years. 

The first engines were mounted on four wheels (at 
present they have but two), and manned by workmen 
in the employ of M. Duperrier, a tax for their 



262 JOHN AVATTS DE PEYSTEK 

compensation being levied upon the sufferers from the 
flames who had received aid from them. In 1705 a 
fire broke out in the house of a mechanic contiguous to 
the Church of Saint Anthony the Less, which caught 
that edifice, spread rapidly, and was only arrested after 
having occasioned great damage. This fire is remarkable 
as having been the first in Paris at which fire engines 
were used. In 1786 a physician and a surgeon were 
attached to the corps. In 1790-91 the theatres were 
obliged to employ the firemen. In 1792 the firemen 
were armed with sabres. In 1793 the candidates for 
service were obliged to pass an examination. 

Soon after this the corps was re-organized by a decree, 
and, later, was given a standard and a uniform. After 
the Eevolution, 6 July, 1801, Napoleon, as First Consul, 
entirely re-organized the Corps, raised the pay, and 
increased the number, by two hundred and ninety-three 
men, through the addition of a supernumerary force. 
It was then composed of three companies of one hundred 
and fifty men. The regular firemen were divided into 
two classes, to each of which sixty supernumeraries were 
attached, thirty of which received uniforms and rations, 
but were not paid, while the others maintained them- 
selves, and were exempt from conscription after two 
years, becoming entitled to fill vacancies in the active 
force as soon as they occurred. The fire department was 
under the direction of the chief of police. 

In 1811 the force was augmented by a battalion of 
four companies, on account of the destruction by fire of 
the palace of the Prince of Schwartzenberg. In 1813 
the ancient house of the Capuchins, in the Eue de la 
Paix, who had given their services in the first attempts 
to fight fire, was assigned to the Second Company. It 
was visited by General de Peyster, in company with the 
United States Secretary of Legation, in April, 1852. 
Here he witnessed the drills and gymnastic exercises of 
the firemen. 

In 1821 a royal ordinance decreed that the fire corps 
should be included in the army. The Eestoration 



ON" PIKE DEPARTMENTS 263 

brought many improvements, among them the attach- 
ment of canvas water buckets to each engine. Previously 
water was brought in wicker buckets by hackney coaches 
from the public stands. Scaling ladders and the sac-de- 
sauvetage (sack of safety) were introduced at this time. 
In 1841 a royal ordinance increased the force to twenty- 
one officers and eight hundred and eight men. In 1848 
the firemen were deprived of muskets, which had 
superseded the sabres of earlier date, as inappropriate to 
the service. In 1850 the battalion was disbanded by a 
decree of the President, and re-organized under the 
administration of the Minister of War. 

General de Peyster compares the system of Paris with 
that of New York City, the latter being the largest and 
best regulated of our country. He considers that of 
Paris superior in every way, and says, "The superiority 
of a military to a volunteer organization is verified by 
continued experience and innumerable examples." The 
Parisian fireman quells the fire with as little damage 
to the property by water as possible. 

In our department there is a reckless use of it, which 
not only causes as much damage as the fire itself, but 
wastes the water supply. The fireman of Paris is trained 
to regard his calling like that of a soldier, while the 
volunteer fireman, necessarily, does not give his best 
energies to the service. 

"When a conflagration breaks out in Paris the measures 
of the firemen are truly strategetical. They take 
possession of the threatened locality, without control or 
interference, and * * * against an enemy which pardons 
neither the most trifling error nor momentary hesitation, 
in danger of sacrificing their lives * * * they exercise 
the absolute right of troops under arms and command 
on their field of battle. And such is the legitimate 
confidence which they inspire that the population, 
reassured by their presence alone, obey their injunctions 
* * * and keep themselves aloof, so as to cause neither 
let nor hindrance. Whilst, on the other hand, every one 
deems he has a right to advise volunteer firemen, who 



264 JOHN" WATTS DE PEYSTER 

are often his neighbors, and of whose experience and 
capacity he has legitimate cause for suspicion." 

Again he says, "The same cross of lionor wliich rewards 
the gallant and successful soldier, sparkles on the breast 
of the devoted and generous fireman — the same infamy 
which awaits the deserter and coward, impends over the 
faithless and insubordinate Sapeur Pompier." 

The personnel of the fire department of Paris is 
described as consisting of, first, the Sapeurs Pompiers 
(firemen), incorporated with the army; second, the 
Sapeurs Pompiers Municipaux (independent corps of 
firemen), civil in character; and, third, the Sapeurs 
Pompiers Gardes Nationaux (militia firemen), connected 
with the National Guard. This corps has also the care 
of the aqueducts. 

A description of the independent fire corps follows. 
General de Peyster uses a translation of its Regulations, 
submitted to the Prefect of the Department and the 
Minister of the Interior, which embraces organization, 
duties, discipline, and administration. He gives a 
translation of the rules and regulations for towns and 
villages, as likewise of the Sunday regulations. He also 
gives, from the code of the National Guard, extracts 
which apply to the fire corps. A description of the 
Parisian fire engines and other apparatus concludes the 
account. 

FIRE DEPARTMENT OF FLORENCE 

The firemen of Florence form a municipal guard 
maintained by the city and composed of artificers and 
mechanics. They have a military organization, and 
not only protect the city from fires, but maintain the 
health ordinances, superintend the lighting of the streets, 
and attend to the operation of the floodgates of the river 
Arno during freshets. They also attend fires in the 
country districts near the city. The fire department is 
under the city government and also that of the Tuscan 
troops, and partakes of the character of a volunteer 



ON FIEE DEPAETMENTS 265 

municipal and military force. A translation is given of 
the regulations governing it. 

"After much study of the principles of the herein- 
before mentioned systems," says General de Peyster, in 
conclusion, "and examination of the acts regulating fire 
companies in this State, I am satisfied that the incorpo- 
ration of the fire department in the rural districts with 
the State military organizations would bring order out 
of chaos. To accomplish this, I herewith submit 
suggestions for an act calculated to attain so deserving 
an end, to which are appended my reasons for believing 
its passage would be generally popular, and its advan- 
tages eagerly embraced throughout the State." 

He gives an outline of an act to reorganize the fire 
corps in the State of New York. It contains suggestions 
for organizations, uniforms, etc., and gives the laws of 
the State, of that time, respecting fire companies, and 
a report from Captain Horton, of Company B, 22nd 
Eegiment, made to General de Peyster, and dated 12 
September, 1852, upon the condition of "the fire 
organizations and apparatus within the bounds of the 
9th Brigade district." This report shows the district 
to be very poorly equipped, while in many cases the 
corps were only nominal, to give their members the 
privilege of exemption from taxes and militia service. 

In the fall of 1852, soon after General de Peyster's 
reports had been transmitted to Governor Hunt, the 
field and staff officers of his brigade expressed their 
appreciation of their commander's labors in behalf of 
the militia by tendering to him a medal. Their letter 
to him is dated 22 November, 1852. 

"It is with a lively sentiment," they write, "of your 
devotion to their interests, and a high appreciation of 
your efforts toward establishing in the State of New 
York that only harmless and secure provision for the 
defence of a Constitution and Liberty, such as an 
American enjoys — a peace-loving but in time of need 
fighting militia — that the Field and Staff Officers of the 
9th Brigade beg your acceptance of the medal voted by 



266 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

them at their last Officers' Drill, Oct., 1852, with an 
expression of their deep interest in the success of your 
present journey, both for establishing your health and 
advancing the service." 



CHAPTEE XXVI 

MILITARY AGENT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 

In the early fall of 1853, soon after receiving General 
de Peyster's reports, Governor Washington Hunt 
extended the General's leave of absence to enable him 
to prosecute further his military researches abroad, at 
the same time conferring upon him the official title of 
Military Agent of the State of New York. The commis- 
sion from the Governor, revising and renewing the 
powers, which previously, on 29 July, 1851, he had con- 
ferred upon General de Peyster, is as follows: 
"STATE OF NEW YOEK, 
"EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT. 
"Albany, 1st September, 1852. 
"TO THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE 

OF NEW YORK: 
"TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL 
COME : 

"KNOW YE, That whereas J. Watts de Peyster, 
Brigadier-General in the Military Forces of our State of 
New York, and Commandant of the 9th Brigade District 
therein, hath applied to us for a renewal of his leave of 
absence, to enable him to return to Europe, and make 
a tour of such countries as he may be advised or deem 
advisable to visit for the entire restoration of his health : 
And whereas we have the fullest confidence in the ability 
and experience of General de Peyster, whom we have 
promoted for valuable improvements in Organization, 
Armament, and Uniform, while Colonel Commanding 
the 22d Regimental District of our State, and subsequent 
important service: 

"Now, Therefore, leave of absence for two years from 
the date hereof, or as long as may be required for his 
recovery, is hereby granted, and Brigadier-General de 

267 



268 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

Peyster is hereby constituted MILITARY AGENT of 
our said State of New York, and ordered and directed, 
with a view to promote the efficiency of the Military 
System of our said State, to INSPECT, EXAMINE 
and REPORT upon the Military and Naval Systems of 
Defence, the Ordnance Departments, Artillery and 
Armaments in general, the Organizations of the National 
Guards and Municipal Military Police and Fire Systems 
of the countries he may visit, and purchase such publi- 
cations, maps, charts, arms, equipments and apparatus 
as may to him appear advantageous, for the purpose of 
submitting the information thus acquired, and specimens 
selected, to the authorities of our said State. 

"And we do hereby commend General de Peyster to 
the favorable consideration of the CIVIL and MILI- 
TARY AUTHORITIES of the countries he may visit, 
and desire that he may receive from the Diplomatic 
Agents and Consuls of the United States, abroad, all 
proper aid and such facilities for promoting the object 
of his mission as well as such good offices as they can 
with propriety afford him. 

"IN TESTIMONY whereof, we have caused The 
Great Seal of the State of New York to be hereunto 
affixed. 

"Witness Washington Hunt, Governor of our said 
State and Commander-in-Chief of 
the Military and Naval Forces of 
"(The Great Seal the same at our city of Albany, the 
N. Y, S.) first day of September, in the year 

of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and fifty-two. 

"Washington Hunt. 
"State of New York, Head-Quarters, Ad'j Gen'l's Office, 

"Albany, Oct'r 18, 1853. 
"(L.S.) Passed the Ad'j GenTs Office. 

"Abm. Van Vechten, 
"Ass't Adj.-Gen'l of the State of New York." 
The co-operation of the departments of the national 
government of War and State was again invoked in 



MILITAEY AGENT OF NEW YORK 269 

order that European sources of information might be 
made as completely accessible as possible. The following 
letter, dated 4 November, 1852, Governor Hunt addressed 
to Hon. Edward Everett, Secretary of State, 

"Having confidence in the ability, judgment, and 
discretion of Brig. Gen'l J. Watts de Peyster, I have 
granted him certain powers, and leave of absence, to 
enable him to travel abroad. On a previous visit, made 
under similar authority, Gen'l de Peyster obtained a large 
amoimt of valuable information, which he has embodied 
in two elaborate Eeports, made to me on the subjects 
entrusted to his charge. 

"1 should feel gratified if you would grant him a pass- 
port, in accordance with the facts, setting forth that he 
is a Brigadier-General of the Militia of the State (of 
New York) and a Military Agent of the same, and give 
him a Circular to our U. S. oflficers, as will advance the 
objects of his mission and afford him facilities for 
travelling. 

"If you should not deem it improper, and inconsistent 
with the custom of your Department, by gratifying the 
wishes of Gen'l De Peyster in this respect, I should feel 
greatly obliged." 

On the same date the Governor addressed a similar 
letter to Hon. Charles M. Conrad, Secretary of War, in 
the course of which he said: 

"He has devoted much time and money to promote 
the efiicieney and the organization of the Militia of the 
State, and is one of the most accomplished officers we 
have. 

"I should feel obliged if you would give to Gen'l de 
Peyster a Circular to the U. S. Diplomatic Agents and 
Consuls abroad, such as will advance the objects of his 
mission, and afford him facilities for seeing all that may 
be interesting, and render agreeable his sojourn in the 
countries he may visit." 

On 11 November, 1852, Secretary Conrad referred the 
matter to Secretary Everett. 

"Allow me to introduce to your acquaintance Lieuten- 



270 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

ant-Colonel James Mulford, of the New York Militia," 
he wrote. "Mr. Mulford has business with your Depart- 
ment connected with his official station, and brought me 
the enclosed letter from Governor Hunt, of New York, 
the request contained in which should properly have been 
addressed to yourself. 

"The gentleman mentioned in Governor Hunt's letter 
— General de Peyster — visited Europe last year, in order 
to collect such information in military matters as might 
aid in the re-organization of the Military System of his 
State, and, at my request, a passport was furnished him, 
in which he was designated by his military title of Major- 
General,* New York Militia. He again solicits a similar 
favor, which I hope it may be in your power to grant." 

As a result the following letter, dated at the Depart- 
ment of State, Washington, 11 November, 1852, addressed 
"To the Diplomatic and Consular Agents of the United 
States in Europe," and signed by Secretary of State 
Everett, was delivered to General de Peyster. 

"This letter will be handed to you by J. Watts de 
Peyster, Brig. Gen'l of the Military Forces of the State 
of New York, and Commandant of the Ninth Brigade 
District therein, who has been recommended to this 
Department by Washington Hunt, Governor of the State 
of New York, as one of the most useful and accomplished 
officers in the Military Organization of that State. 

"General de Peyster goes abroad under orders from 
Governor Hunt, as Military Agent of the State of New 
York, with a view to promote the efficiency of the Military 
System of said State, and to inspect, examine and report 
upon the Military and Naval Systems of Defence, 
Ordnance Departments, Artillery, Armaments, etc., etc. 

"I take great pleasure in commending him to you, and 
in bespeaking for him during his sojourn in your vicinity, 
such facilities for promoting the objects of his mission, 
and such good offices, as may be in your power to afford 
him." 



•A clerical error for Brigadier-General. 



MILITARY AGENT OF NEW YORK 271 

Sailing for Europe in the fall of 1852, General de 
Peyster prosecuted his researches during that season 
and the winter of 1852-'53, returning to the United States 
in the spring. The results of his investigation are 
embodied in a third report, addressed to Governor 
Seymour. 



CHAPTEE XXVII 

THIRD MILITARY REPORT 

Printed at his own expense, General de Peyster's 
third report is dated from Tivoli, 1 June, 1853. 
While it is described by its author as a ''supplement" to 
his preceding reports, it occupies no less than one hun- 
dred and eighty-three printed pages. Subsequently, he 
drew up and printed a section on the Prussian and Berlin 
fire departments. This is dated 23 March, 1854. It is 
designated as Chapter X, paged from 184 to 215, and 
intended as a continuation of the Eeport to Governor 
Seymour. Still later, under date 27 April, 1854, General 
de Peyster made another addition, printed under the 
title, "John Edward Purser's Eire Escape." 

His work as ]\Iilitary Agent, on the occasion of both 
visits to Europe, was carried on by the General in spite 
of ill-health, and while under the strain of much physical 
suffering. His report was drawn up under the same 
handicap, and he speaks in it of "continued ill-health, 
and at times entire inability to use my pen." The docu- 
ment begins as follows: 
"Head Quarters, 9th Brigade, 3d Division, N. Y. State 

Troops, 

"Tivoli Post Office, Dutchess Co., 1st June, 1853. 
"To His Excellency, Horatio Seymour, 

"Governor of the State of New York and Commander- 
in-Chief of the Military and Naval Forces thereof: 
"Yr, Excellency: 

"In pursuance of General Orders, No. 411, and powers 
conferred upon me, 29th July, 1851, revised and renewed 
1st September, 1852, etc., etc., by His Excellency, 

272 




JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER IN AUSTRIAN UNIFORM, 1853 



THIED MILITARY REPORT 273 

WASHINGTON HUNT, Governor and Commander-in- 
Chief, etc.,*of the State of New York, to inspect, examine 
and report upon the Military Systems of Defence, and 
Organizations of the National Guards and Municipal, 
Military, Police and Fire Systems, etc., etc., best adapted 
to the Military Institutions of this State, I have the honor 
to submit the following Report and Corollary Informa- 
tion, collected in the course of my Tour, which may be 
considered a supplement and material part of my pre- 
ceding Reports, dated 1st July and 16th August, 1853. 

"The present Report will endeavor to furnish analyses 
of the English and Swiss Militia Laws; the Prussian 
(Berlin), Swiss (Genevese), Russian (St. Petersburg), 
and supplementary information with regard to the French 
(Parisian) Fire Departments; the Laws of 1851, relat- 
ing to the Military Reorganization of the Kingdom of 
Sardinia; as well as such other subjects as may appear 
valuable as suggestions for improvements in the Militia 
Establishments of this State." 

The introduction briefly discusses the needs of the 
different divisions of the Militia of the State of New 
York, recalling some of the recommendations of the 
earlier reports, and reenforcing them by facts and argu- 
ments derived from later researches. 

"Every day's experience and observation in Europe," 
General de Peyster declares, "confirmed my original 
opinion of the value of Mountain Howitzers." His 
attention was specially directed to the improvement of 
the carriage, and this led, later, to the introduction, by 
him, of the prairie carriage. 

He again emphatically commends the rifle as an 
offensive weapon, and urges the formation of corps of 
sharpshooters. 

*"I am indebted to His Excellency Washington Hunt, late Governor, 
not only for my promotion to the rank I now hold and selection to 
represent our State (militarily) abroad, but for extraordinary facilities 
for seeing and studying foreign systems and organizations, obtained 
through his recommendations from the General Government. To the 
Hon. Charles M. Conrad, late Secretary of War, also, I owe my warm- 
est thanks for his letters to American representatives abroad, and 
continued assistance in enabling me to fulfill the object of my 
mission." 
18 



274 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

The uniform of riflemen in the United States he cou- 
siders utterly unsuitable, '^'Examine them in detail: 
Metallic ornaments, bright buttons, glistening lace, un- 
suitable on any military dress, mortal to their wearers 
when opposed to adversaries skilled in picking off their 
opponents ! Then scrutinize foreign uniforms, sombre 
green, like the dense foliage, dark blue, appropriate 'to 
the forest gloom,' or grey, swallowed up in the first 
wreaths of 'war's sulphurous canopy.' " He advocates 
grey as the most appropriate color for the uniform of the 
State of New York,* giving the following reasons for this 
choice : 

"Over and above the many cogent reasons urged in 
* * * my Eeport of 1st July, 1852, for the adoption 
of grey as the appropriate color for our State uniform, 
the following additional recommendations may not be 
without weight. At morning and evening twilight, in 
foggy, muggy, and rainy weather, a body of men thus 
clothed would be undistinguishable at a very short dis- 
tance, and amid the smoke of battle they would be 
swallowed up at once in the clouds of kindred hue. Grey 
and yellow, or gold, form the richest dress in the world : 
without bullion, it is the cheapest, taking into considera- 
tion its serviceability; it is national to a great degree, 
and last — not least certainly — it is the least fatal to its 
wearer. Grey, it is stated, was the uniform of the English 
troops in the reign of William III. It is now worn by 
the Austrian Eiflemen, and good reasons must have 
dictated the choice, for it was not appropriate to any 
province of the Empire. 

"It would appear from numerous observations, that 
soldiers are hit during battle, according to the color of 
their dress, in the following order: red, the most fatal; 
the least fatal, Austrian grey. The proportions are, red, 
12 ; rifle green, 7 ; brown, 6 ; Austrian-bluish-grey, 5." 

On the subject of chaplains, he says, "Where Colonels 



•This suggestion was not lost upon Jefferson Davis, who became 
Secretary of War in 1853, and grey uniforms were adopted In the 
Confederate armies. 



THIED MILITAEY REPORT 275 

have Chaplains attached to their Staff, they should be 
called upon on all suitable occasions to discharge their 
duties and celebrate divine service at the head of their 
regiments. * * * j^q Christian people does, or 
should, neglect their duty to the Lord of Hosts, or forget 
their entire dependence on Him. It ill becomes us, who 
liave partaken so largely of his bounties, and found Him 
a 'Banner' and 'Defense,' on many a hard fought field, 
to forget the respect due to Him who gives or withholds 
the victory." 

The introduction contains suggestions for the organi- 
zation of the medical department of the militia, discusses 
the subject of orders and badges of merit, urges a military 
plan of fire organizations, and renews the suggestions for 
changes in the militia laws, made after consultation with 
many militia officers, as "the best and perhaps the only 
basis for the organization of a reliable force." 

A description is given of the musketoon of the French 
Cavalry, introduced into France after General de 
Peyster's visit in 1853. In his careful analysis of its 
points of advantage, his remarkable technical knowledge 
of the principles of firearms is apparent to the most 
ignorant. It is this broad, yet detailed, grasp of his 
subject which makes the military writings of General de 
Peyster so valuable. In this connection, he urges the 
need of a change of arms as follows: 

"As a matter of primary importance, I beg leave to 
call your Excellency's attention to the Armament, etc., 
of the New York State Militia, and cannot too strongly 
urge upon the State authorities the necessity .of perfecting 
everything connected not only with the arms themselves, 
which are in many respects inferior to those issued to 
the United States Regular Troops, but other material, 
which should be complete in every respect, and so kept 
up as to enable the Militia to take the field at once in 
case of riot, insurrection, or war. 

"If the Regular Troops, thoroughly acquainted with 
the use of their arms, and their details, require perfect 
weapons, how much more the Militia, composed of 



276 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

citizens, so superior in every respect to the Army 
Personal, worthy, both as a body and as individuals, 
of every attention and every endeavor to place them on 
the most efficient footing and best enable them to preserve 
their lives, so valuable to their families and friends and 
the State, and at the same time discharge their duty with 
fidelity and success. 

"As the Infantry — or rather the Corps serving as such 
— are most numerous, the first remarks are somewhat 
due to them. Almost, if not all, the Regiments use 
flint-lock muskets, which have become almost antiquated 
in Europe, where the Neapolitan is the only army which 
retains these obsolete locks; and even there the Swiss 
troops, on whose valor the Royal House rely for the 
preservation of their throne, are armed with the most 
approved percussion-lock fire-arms. This State could 
well afford to have all the efficient flint-lock muskets in 
its arsenals and armories immediately altered to percus- 
sion.^' 

The report proper is divided into ten chapters. The 
first two treat of the militia system of New York. 
Chapter I contains amended suggestions for changes in 
the laws relating to that body. General de Peyster advo- 
cates a poll tax for the purpose of raising a fund for its 
support, and also a property tax. The recruitment is to 
be made from the list of voters. The compulsory service, 
in the militia, of non-commissioned officers of the line 
would insure rapid improvement in the training of the 
men. He favors the mountain howitzer, as best adapted 
for rural artillery, and the transportation of ammunition 
on carts. 

He proposes that the fire departments be placed under 
the direction of militia officers. The rosters, returns, 
accounts, etc., are to be verified under oath, and officers 
commissioned only after passing an examination. He 
also suggests the organization of a pay department, an 
ordnance department, and the awarding of medals. He 
proposes an order of merit, to be called the "Excelsior/' 
with appropriate decorations. His suggested amend- 



THIED MILITAEY EEPORT 277 

ments likewise provide for the establishment of a State 
military school. 

In Chapter II he makes suggestions based on his 
studies of European systems. He strongly condemns the 
election of officers by the men, which completely destroys 
discipline, and deplores the absence of schools where they 
can be trained, saying, in this connection, "Every foreign 
State, it matters not how circumscribed in territory or 
restricted in resources, maintains schools for the instruc- 
tion of those destined for the career of arms." 

Chapter III contains an analysis of the militia laws 
of England. General de Peyster dclares that "at no time 
during the existence of the English monarchy * * * 
since the days of Alfred the Great, has England been 
destitute of an Armed Force, answering, in many 
respects, to the present Militia." From his examination 
of the acts under which the English militia has been 
organized, he believes them to be the basis of our original 
militia laws. An examination of the system in England 
from the earliest times follows. 

Under the Saxon law, one soldier was furnished from 
every five hides of land. A hide is believed by some 
authors to have been the area of land necessary to sustain 
a single family for one year. The Venerable Bede is 
an authority for this belief. It was supposed to consist 
of from fifty to one hundred acres. The fighting force, 
in Saxon times, was composed of the Ceorls, the lowest 
class of freemen, and commanded by the Eoldermen, the 
governors of shires, who were elected at the Folk-Motes 
(Assemblies of the People). 

After the Conquest, under the feudal system, the 
militia was provided by the nobles, who sent their vassals 
to the field at the order of the Crown. General de 
Peyster points out that this system was equivalent to a 
tax upon property. It continued until the time of 
Cromwell, when the same right was exercised by the 
Parliament. At the Eestoration, the authority over and 
command of the militia returned to the Crown, and 
every person who had i200 or more a year was obliged 



378 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

to furnish one foot soldier; those who possessed £500 
and OA^er, furnished a cavalryman; those who had less 
than these sums gave contributions. 

In 1756 the militia was re-organized. The acts of 
George the Third followed, consolidated by the act of 
36 June, 1803. In 1809, during the wars of the time 
of the French Eevolution, a force of four hundred 
thousand men was at the disposal of the State. "Under 
the Act of 30 June, 1853, the militia was augmented 
to eighty thousand ; not only the officers, as with us, but 
also the non-commissioned officers and privates taking 
the Oath of Allegiance, whose rank and file sworn in 
and enrolled for five years, in contradistinction to the 
old method of draft or ballot, are filled up, as far as 
possible, by voluntary enlistment, and the deficiency 
supplied by draft or ballot among men under thirty-five 
years of age, with certain exemptions, and in cases of 
invasion, imminent dangers, &c., can be raised to one 
hundred and twenty thousand." 

The report treats of the provisions respecting officers, 
armories, desertion, formation of corps, yeomanry, etc. 
Fines and other penalties, exceeding £30, can be collected 
by actions brought in any court of record. In less 
amounts, any Justice of the Peace can, in default of 
payment, confiscate the goods and chattels of the 
offender, or commit him to jail. 

Chapter IV is devoted to a description of the militia 
of Switzerland. "There is no country in the world," 
writes General de Peyster, "from whose * * * militia 
system the State of New York can learn so much as that 
of tlie Swiss Confederation, the only Government of 
Europe * * * truly analogous to our own." Switzerland 
is composed of independent cantons, whose populations 
present characteristics widely differing as to language, 
occupation, modes of worship, etc., and yet which are 
united in a Confederation which has held its own amid 
the turmoil of European wars. It is the only nation in 
the world without a standing army, and maintains its 
independence with its citizen soldiery alone. 



THIRD MILITARY REPORT 279 

General de Peyster regards a regular army as a 
necessity in our country, but urges that the Swiss militia 
system might well be imitated by us in its most admirable 
points, namel}", perfect discipline and military instruc- 
tion for officers and men in military schools. The Swiss 
militia is divided into the Elite, corresponding to our 
regular army, and the Reserve, somewhat resembling the 
Landwehr of Prussia. 

The remainder of the chapter consists of the provisions 
of the Swiss federal law in regard to military organiza- 
tions, staffs, and officers, medical department, time of 
service, armament, equipment and uniforms, instruction 
and inspection of troops, and the Department of War. 

Chapter Y, treats of the military organization of the 
Sardinian States, and gives a description of the tactics 
and methods of instruction. This chapter is based upon 
the original manuscript of Lieutenant-General Alexandre 
de la Marmora, Commander-in-Chief, at Genoa, of the 
Military Division, who instituted the Corps of Pied- 
montese Bersaglieri, or Riflemen, from which the famous 
French Chasseurs (originally d'Orleans, now de Vin- 
cennes) were copied. These instructions, translated by 
an officer, formerly^ of the Piedmontese army, for this 
report, are by General de Peyster modified slightly to 
harmonize with the tactics of the United States Army. 
The instruction is divided into three schools: the School 
of Quadriglia' (a division of four men), the School of 
the Platoon (one-fourth of a company), and the School 
of the Company (one hundred and thirty to two hundred 
men). A description of the instruction of these schools 
is given in a series of lessons. 

In a note under "Errata," General de Peyster 
pronounces this exposition of the Sardinian system 
"valuable, as showing the operation of an Organization 
analogous to that of Prussia, but better suited to a Consti- 
tutional or Republican form of Government.'' 

Chapter V also contains an account of public instruc- 
tion in Russia. "Public Instruction appears to have first 
assumed a station among the governmental institutions 



280 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

during the reign of Boritz Feodorowitsch Godunow 
(Bovis Godounove) about the year 1598. The accession 
of the present dynasty of Eomanow gave a powerful 
impulse to the Eussian System of Public Instruction, 
which was warmly patronized by the Czar Michael 
Feodorowitch, 1616, and his son and successor, Alexis 
Michaelowitsch, 1645. During the reign of the latter, 
Nicon, Patriarch of the Eusso-Greek Church, distin- 
guished himself by his zeal for the propagation of 
learning. 

"In 1634, the Metropolitan of Kiew, Peter Magila, 
founded in his province (Exarchie) the first Theological 
Academy. The Hyeronomite (Greek title for a Magis- 
trate of distinguished position), Simeon Polotski, Pre- 
ceptor of the Czar Feodor Alexiowitsch, a celebrated 
Professor of his age, instituted at Moscow the Slav- 
Greek-Latin School of Theology. The immortal reformer 
of Eussia, the Emperor Peter I (1683-1725) called The 
Great, has, on this and on many other grounds, laid the 
foundation of an edifice, to which his successors have 
constantly added, until the Eussian System of Instruc- 
tion merits an important position among the similar 
establishments of other European nations." 

Peter the Great founded many public schools and 
schools of art and science, among which was the Naval 
School, afterwards called the School for Pilots. In 1724, 
he instituted the Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburgh. 
In 1732 the First Corps of Cadets was organized; in 
1752 Empress Elizabeth Petrowna founded the Corps of 
Naval Cadets, and, in 1755, the University of Moscow, 
the first established in Eussia. Empress Catherine II, 
in 1762 founded the Corps of Artillery and the Engineer 
Cadets, the College of Moscow, the House of Instruction, 
the Academy for Young Ladies of Noble Extraction, the 
Commercial School and College of St. Petersburgh, and 
the Eussian Academy. Emperor Paul I in 1798 estab- 
lished the Institute of the Order of St. Catherine for the 
Education of Young Ladies of Noble Extraction, and, 
in 1799, the Academy of Surgery and Medicine. 



THIRD MILITARY REPORT 281 

In 1803 the Ministry of Public Instruction was estab- 
lished by the Emperor Alexander, who also laid the 
foundations of many other institutions of learning. In 
1808 the Corps of Military Orphans was organized, and, 
in the next year, the School of Bridges and Roads. In 
1820 the Michael Artillery School was founded; in 
1822, the School of Chevalier (noble) Guards. Soon 
afterward the Patriotic Institute, the Corps of Forest 
Rangers, a School for the Deaf and Dumb, an Orphan 
Asylum, etc., were established. 

"Beneath the sceptor of the reigning Czar, Nicholas 
I," says General de Peyster, "the Empire of Russia has 
begun a new era, not only in regard to Public Instruc- 
tion, but in every point of view." Nicholas I. founded, 
among other things, the Military Academy and many 
Corps of Cadets at various cities. Statistics follow, 
which General de Peyster declares "will enable our State 
Officers and Legislature to appreciate the present vast 
development of Public Instruction in Russia." 

"Like our own," he says, in closing the chapter, 
"Russia is a nation of yesterday. Each is advancing to 
power. * * * Each must one day come in collision with 
antagonistic principles and races. * * * But how is each 
preparing for the struggle? * * * Russia, with limited 
means, when compared with ours, but with marvellous 
foresight and unflinching perseverance, trusts to the 
sword — that arbiter which has ruled, and ever will rule, 
the mind, until the latter, purified and true to itself, 
understands its mighty mission to free and ennoble, not 
crush and prey upon, mankind ; and, with her 72,000,000 
of inhabitants, maintains thirty-seven Governmental 
Military Establishments (1,292 Instructors, and 12,010 
Pupils), besides hundreds of Institutions tending more 
or less to the same ends, to prepare her youth for the 
career of arms; by which, alone, she is aware that her 
sway and progress can be maintained and can triumph. 

"On the other hand the United States, possessing, or 
soon to possess, 25,000,000 souls, has two (one. Military, 
glorious unit! and one, Naval), unequal to the wants 



282 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEK 

of such a population, and far unequal to the mission 
we have arrogated to ourselves, of protecting every politi- 
cal refugee, worthy or unworthy, who casts himself into 
our arms, thrown open to receive him; and the State of 
New York, the 'Empire State,' with her lofty motto, 
'Excelsior,' with 3,000,000 of inhabitants, NONE!" 

Chapter IX describes the military conditions of Spain, 
which General de Peyster characterizes as deplorable, 
the army being filled with corruption, and the people 
deceived by those who should be their guides. From a 
letter written in 1843, he quotes as follows: 

"In general, the Spaniard possesses all the qualities 
requisite to form a good soldier; gay amid privations, 
content with his simple rations; and, provided he has a 
paper cigarette, he will never complain, but execute 
forced marches of seven or eight Spanish leagues without 
a murmur * * * In as great proportion as the soldiers 
possess the necessary qualities for their calling, the 
officers are deficient in them. The grades are, even 
to-day, the exclusive patrimony of the privileged classes. 
One often sees Commandants who are not twenty years 
old, and Second Lieutenants who play with a top in 
public ! * * * It would seem as if in Spain the epaulette 
had the faculty of stifling all zeal. From the moment 
that an individual changes the lace {hs galons — the 
chevrons of the sergeant and corporal) into the epaulette, 
a metamorphosis is accomplished, contrary to that which 
takes place everywhere else; he is at once good for 
nothing except to tyrannize over his former equals, or 
to censure the conduct of his superiors * * * The 
highest rewards have too often been the rewards of the 
basest intrigues or the most cowardly treasons." 

The conditions found in Spain General de Peyster 
makes the text of the following suggestive homily : 

"From Spain can be derived little, if any, information 
in regard to the organization of a military force, great 
as were the effects and marvellous the results of the 
uprising of her people against that Scourge of God, 
Napoleon; nor are the following pages presented with 



THIED MILITAEY EEPORT 283 

a view to that end ; but in other respects her history, her 
former elevation, her present decay, teem with lessons 
the most important and impressive. 

"She is a living example of the depth to which a 
nation can fall, whose councils are swayed by bigotry, 
intolerance, and ingratitude in every branch of the public 
service; whose upper classes have slept away their patriot- 
ism and manhood; whose navy, which once sovereignized 
the ocean, linking her establishments and colonies, which 
girdled the earth with their grandeur and riches, has 
been precipitated from the heights of glory to the depths 
of insignificance by the folly, venality, and ignorance of 
her rulers; whose army, whose discipline, valor, and 
determination challenged the admiration of the civilized 
world, has almost become a by-word for inefficiency and 
mutiny, through the want of proper institutions for 
military education, the effects of favoritism and politics; 
in a word, the continual interference of ambitious dema- 
gogues and unprincipled agitators with that organization 
which, of all others should be free from such treasonable 
and destructive influences. 

"Like the column of iron, when defective, no army 
can be trusted in a crisis, whose discipline has been 
flawed by any such causes. To us, in this respect, she 
presents a terrible example; for, in no country have the 
people been more deceived with regard to their military 
organizations, by political leaders and the press, than our 
own. 

"To attain great or insignificant, but temporary offices, 
how often has falsehood, or, what is equally culpable, 
concealment of the truth, been resorted to, with regard to 
the value of our regular army ! x\gain and again, in our 
National Congress and State Legislatures, have fluent 
orators, experienced in its weakness and viciousness, 
dared to place a volunteer system on the same level with 
a regular permanent organization. We have seen 
Generals and subordinate officers, created by the stroke 
of a pen, replace chiefs and leaders grey with mental 
and physical labor, sacrificed for political reasons alone. 



284 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

with a full knowledge of the injustice of the substitution 
or promotion. On a paltry question of momentary 
expediency, perhaps the election or appointment of an 
inefficient, but available candidate, how often have the 
Militia of this State been sacrificed, or the efficiency of 
the New York Firemen tampered with ! 

"As in Spain, men to whom our country should look 
for the truth have so blinded the eyes of our people, too 
often averse to the most wholesome restraint, to the real 
strength of military organizations, that those experiences 
which seem to have been sent by Providence to awaken 
us from our errors, through the insidious, interested 
explanations of false teachers, have served but to lull 
us into a more dangerous apathy. 

"The day will come, however, when, thrust into a 
contest with a great military power, we will awaken from 
our dream of security to expiate the criminality of our 
rulers with such sacrifice of life and treasures as the 
history of nations has not yet chronicled — peradventure 
with the sword at each other's throats. Of this truth, 
the annals of Spain and of her armies furnish continual 
examples, throughout the last two centuries, and teach 
us that when a military organization is ever exposed to, 
and entirely dependent on, the selfishness, influence, and 
corruption of mere politicians, farewell to discipline, 
farewell to reliability, and, in the end, farewell to 
every sentiment of justice and honor !" 

Equally notable is General de Peyster's eloquent plea 
for discipline: 

"In England, when the Militia is embodied. Her 
Majesty can put the forces under the command of such 
general officers as she may be pleased to appoint. In 
Prance, Holland, Prussia, the German States, in fact all 
whose laws I have ever quoted, except Switzerland, the 
sovereign assigns generals, colonels, or other field officers 
of the Regular Army, to the chief command and leading 
of divisions and brigades. In the Swiss service there 
is no higher grade than that of Colonel — even the 
Commander-in-Chief, in reality, ranks as such. 



THIRD MILITAEY EEPOET 385 

"We are the only people who are suflBciently unwise 
to entrust our military forces to the guidance of igno- 
rance, conceit, recklessness, and political intrigue. As 
to the staff corps, the Army is, or should be, the example 
for the Militia under present circumstances; although 
the principle, militarily considered, is wrong. In the 
former, the staff officers are, with very few exceptions, 
provided for by law, supplied by subalterns from the 
line, temporarily detailed for such service. 

"Then with regard to the election of officers, with 
which hallucination we alone are afflicted, it is almost 
useless to say anything further. The militia officer, 
or intelligent private, who cannot discover the error, to 
use the gentlest expression, will never learn it from 
an)i;hing but the hardest experience. That our poli- 
ticians acknowledge it, although they have not hitherto 
dared to apply the remedy, is proven by Section 6, Article 
xi., of our State Constitution, by which the Legislature 
is invested with the power of abolishing this pernicious 
regulation — pernicious because the parent of so many 
other vices and weaknesses — and providing for the 
appointment of officers. 

"Would that the writer's pen could make apparent 
the chief cause, besides the elective principle, of our 
Militia's decadence and present inefficiency ! It is almost 
entirely owing to the absence of stern and impartial 
discipline. What is there so repulsive in the word 
MUST, from which our people recoil with distrust and 
mistermed independence? It is only another term for, 
or application of, that Law which throws its aegis over 
the citizen and his right, wherever the Anglo-Saxon 
language is spoken, its institutions honored, and its 
influence acknowledged. Obedience to God, submission 
to authority and law, and the fulfilling of individual 
duty, are, one and all, the offspring of that MUST, 
known in military parlance as 'discipline,' which is the 
soul of ai;i army — the very life-blood, whose regular 
pulsation constitutes its vitality. 

"Without discipline an army is worse than a mob; 



286 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

impotent for good, potent for evil. By the agency of 
discipline, Greece overthrew the mighty monarchies of 
Asia, Rome became the mistress of the world, and in 
her decline maintained her sway despite the waning valor 
and enervated frames of her soldiery; Sweden emanci- 
pated Germany from the shackles of Papal and imperial 
tyranny, and, although a barren and sparsely populated 
country, dictated terms to her richer and more powerful 
neighbors; Spain, with a handful of heroes, subdued the 
Americans; Prussia, from a poor and second-rate 
power, took, and has since maintained, her place among 
the great sovereignties of Europe, and, under her great 
Frederick, repelled and conquered, with hireling forces, 
armies sixfold their number; Austria, greatest in defeat, 
reorganized her armaments, so often destroyed, 3^et always 
renewed; France imposed her yoke on a vanquished 
continent, and only fell when her example had taught 
the conquered the arts of the conqueror; and England, 
upheld by England's dauntless heart, rolled back the 
wave of Bonaparte's ambition, wherever Anglo-Saxon 
bayonet grated against the steel of Celtic foe. 

"Ask the historian for those glorious names who have 
advanced the art of war, and left the impress of their 
fame on the chronicles of armies — Alexander, with his 
massive phalanx, Cfesar with his mobile legion, Hannibal 
with his Cossacks of the ancient world, and, in modern 
days, Gustavus the originator, Frederick the adaptor, and 
Napoleon the perfector — and bid them reveal the secret 
of their marvellous success. Discipline, the a])plication 
of the simple 'must.' 

"Who is universally admitted to be the most illustrious 
captain this world has ever known, since the days of 
Nimrod, 'the mighty hunter,' to the present, the dawning 
of Peace's gentler triumphs ? Napoleon Bonaparte ! 
Look to his banners, blackened with the smoke of a 
thousand conflicts and rent with missiles from every 
European mine. What words are inscribed on their 
glorious folds, so fraught with lessons to the soldier? 
'Valor' and 'discipline' — only those two; and they 




BOOK PLATE OF JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 
Showing the de Peyster and Watts Arms 



THIBD MILITARY EEPOET 287 

rendered his armies for nineteen years invincible on 
every battlefield, from the Pillars of Hercules to the 
burning sands of the Lybian and Syrian Deserts, and 
frozen wastes of Eussia. Discipline is the soul and life 
of armies, the first element of military greatness and 
success. And yet, our Militia Organization claims to 
exist without that vital principle ! If the fact must be 
told, we have no real militia !" 

Chapter VI consists of a translation of documents 
relating to the organization and duties of the fire 
battalion of Paris. 

Chapter VII is a treatise upon the fire department of 
St. Petersburgh. Its members are not only firemen, but 
act as a police force. The department is well organized, 
but rarely succeeds in extinguishing fires. The methods 
employed are those most calculated to defeat their object, 
among them being the demolishing of buildings adjacent 
to those in flames, and the breaking of window glasses, 
which immediately creates a draught, causing the fire to 
spread. 

The horses in the fire service are the finest in the city, 
having been confiscated by the Government on account 
of the accidents caused by their spirit or speed. This, 
however, does not prevent such accidents, as the drivers 
always increase the speed to escape and avoid confisca- 
tion. General de Peyster tells us that the Emperor, on 
one occasion, seeing that one of the horses attached to 
his sledge had a tendency to run away, drove to the 
nearest fire station and delivered it to the firemen. 

Chapter VIII presents a description of the fire depart- 
ment of the city of Lyons. Its institution was accom- 
plished by an imperial decree of 23 January, 1808. The 
present force was organized 1 September, 1852. It is 
under military regulations. A description is given of 
the staff of officers, tariff of pay, clothing and armament. 

Chapter X contains an account of the Berlin fire 
extinguishing establishment. It is municipal in charac- 
ter, but with military organization. Berlin is divided 
into eighteen wards, each of which has one engine. They 



288 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

are connected by a telegraphic system. "When a fire 
is discovered," says General de Peyster, "it is made 
known simultaneously at all these stations, and it may 
be reached from the nearest station in two or three 
minutes, and from the rest proportionately, according to 
relative distances. The most remote fires may be arrived 
at from the central point within a quarter of an hour at 
the very farthest. * * * When at the scene of action, 
every proceeding * * * is conducted with all the forms, 
discipline, and regularity of military movements; it 
is also evident that great advantage is derived from the 
system." 

He closes with statistics regarding this system, and 
with supplementary accounts of the London fire brigade 
and the St. Peterst)urgh fire department. 

"There is a greater field for usefulness in the regenera- 
tion of our Fire Department, and correction of its lavish 
expenditure," he writes, in summing iip his recommen- 
dations on this subject, "than in any other branch of the 
State or Municipal service, however great the wants, 
errors, or abuses of any other branch may be found on 
examination. 

"Fire Corps should become a part of our Militia 
Organization, and be subjected to rigid military disci- 
pline; or else, particularly in large cities, established as 
a permanent municipal force, dependent in a great 
measure on the Department of Police, and an Auxiliary 
to the Police itself." 

"An unprejudiced examination of the merits of the 
Parisian Establishment," he says again, "will prove, to 
a military and scientific mind, the vast superiority of its 
elements. That iron discipline which has ever con- 
quered, and will ever conquer man, on the field of battle, 
and alone has been able to overcome nature, will assuredly 
triumph, as far as human beings can triumph, over every 
enemy, even the most ruthless fire. 

"I cannot take back a syllable of anything I have said 
in favor of a Militarily Constituted Paid Fire Depart- 
ment, composed of a comparatively few selected, drilled, 



THIED MILITAEY EEPOET 289 

capable, and reliable men, subject to the Police Magis- 
trates, auxiliary to the Police itself; for very little over 
the same sum, the city of New York could have, instead 
of 4,125 Volunteer Firemen, as at present (the majority 
of whom alone must invariably perform the majority of 
the duty), 500 Soldier Firemen — experienced, educated 
men, capable of resisting fatigue and exposure. Life 
Preservers, in the true sense of the word. Active Police- 
men, Model Soldiers, Admirable Gymnasts, Practical 
Machinists, and, unsullied by that canker of our Munici- 
pal Institutions, political intrigue. Exemplary Citizens." 

He proposes a complete reorganization of the fire 
department of the City of New York, 

"In order to organize a Fire Department for the City 
of New York, worthy so great and opulent a community, 
we should first examine what features are common to 
the majority of the best European systems, and deserving 
of imitation. The first is the application of horse power 
for the transport of the Engines, Fire Train, and even 
Firemen themselves. The second is the introduction of 
the Paulin Fire Dress and Fire Escapes, originally 
adopted in Paris, or better ones, if they can be found, 
and a suitable, economical uniform, &c. 

"Thus, at once, we have a foundation to work upon. 
The addition of Floating Fire Engines for rivers and 
river fronts, and Steam Fire Engines for the interior 
of the city — the first already in use in London, on the 
Thames, in Berlin, on the Spree, &c. ; the second, in 
Cincinnati; the union in one person, the Chief of Police, 
of the command of the Police Department Proper and 
the Superior Control of the Fire and Croton Water 
Department, which would assimilate his authority and 
duties to those of the Prefect of Police in Paris; a Fire 
Telegraph, susceptible of being used for Police purposes, 
on a similar plan to those which have proved so beneficial 
ill Berlin and Boston ; a Gymnasium for the instruction 
of the Police and Firemen, to prepare them for the 
discharge of all their arduous duties; the distribution, 
throughout the city, of Fire stations, or posts amply 

19 



290 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

provided with Personal and Material; would enable the 
officers, possessed of such extensive, yet necessary, Juris- 
dictions and resources, so intimately connected and 
mutually dependent, to exert an immediate and concen- 
trated authority, capable of coping successfully with any 
conflagration which might result from negligence, 
accident, or crime." 

The essential features in the reformation of the New 
York fire department advocated by General de Peyster — 
the organization of a paid fire department and the intro- 
duction of steam fire engines — were adopted by the city 
after his reports were published. The improvements 
introduced in New York spread to other cities and chief 
towns throughout the country, and to General de Peyster 
the credit must be given for the initiation of this great 
reform. Long afterward, when the present system had 
been in operation for many years, under his pen name 
of "Anchor," the General contributed to one of the 
papers a brief article in appreciation of the effective 
work of the New York firemen. Under the title, "Honor 
to our Fire Department," he says: 

"The writer served with the old Volunteer dis- 
organization and first reported in favor of the new, and 
therefore can appreciate the damage of the one with the 
salvation of the other. Last night at a friend's in Fifth 
Avenue a chimney took fire. The volumes of smoke in 
tb,e house and adjoining building were enormous and 
foreboded something serious. 

"With the first flakes of falling soot the writer went 
out to order his vehicle to leave the way clear. No 
sooner was it so than there was an engine, hose cart, and 
truck on hand. It was marvellous. And then the 
courtesy, gentleness, and efficiency of the firemen under 
Engineer King. Their conduct was unexceptionable. 

"The writer has examined into these services abroad 
and elsewhere, and can testify to the superiority of the 
forbearance and capability of our own. Nor were the 
police patrols beliindhand in promptness and conduct. 
With such firemen and police as were on hand last night, 



THIRD MILITARY REPORT 291 

our citizens can feel assured of a protection to property 
and person not enjoyed by any other city where the 
writer has been present at similar scenes." 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

ADJUTANT-GENERAL 

Colonel William P. Wainwriglit, of the Twenty-second 
Eegiment, was Acting Brigadier-General of the Ninth 
Brigade from 30 August, 1851, to 28 May, 1853, while 
GJeneral de Peyster was engaged in making his military 
tours of inspection in Europe and drawing up his reports. 
Ivesuming the active command of his brigade on the last 
mentioned date. General de Peyster continued in charge 
of it until his assignment as Adjutant-General, a year 
and seven months later. 

His experiments with guns, with other activities 
looking to the improvement of the State troops, were 
continued througliout this period. He was Acting 
Major-General of the Third Division, New York State 
Military Force, in August, 1853, during the temporary 
absence of Major-General John Taylor Cooper. 

Leave of absence having been granted to General de 
Peyster, Colonel Wainwriglit again became Acting 
Brigadier-General of tlie Ninth Brigade, 30 December, 
1854. Two days later, Myron H. Clark, upon his 
inauguration as Governor of New York, issued the follow- 
ing order: "State of New York, 

"Executive Department. 
"Albany, 1st January, 1855. 
"The Commander-in-Cliicf hereby appoints the following 
named persons Members of his Staff, and orders and directs 
that they shall be obeyed and. respected accordingly. 
"1 J. Watts de Peyster, of Tivoli, Duchess Co., 

Adjutant-General. 

2 Benjamin F. Bruce, " Lenox, Madison Co., 

Inspector-General. 

3 Joseph J. Chambers, of the City of Albany, 

Engineer-in-Chief. 

4 O. Vandenburgh, " " " " Syracuse, 

Judge Advocate General. 

5 James L. Mitchell, " - " of Albany, 

Quarter-Master-General 
G A. H. Hoff, " " " of Albany, 



Surgeon-General. 



292 



ADJUTANT-GENERAL 293 

7 E. E. Hendrick. of the City of Albany, 

Paymaster-General. 

8 E. H. Schermerhorn, " " " " New York, 

9 I. B. Gale, " " " " Troy, 

10 John Sill, " " " " Albany, Aids. 

11 Samuel C. Thompson, " " " " New York, 

JMilitary Secretary. 
"Myron H. Clark," 
A copy of General de Peyster's commission as 
Adjntant-General is here given. 

"THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YOEK, 
"BY THE GRACE OF GOD FREE AND INDE- 
PENDENT 
"TO J. WATTS DE PEYSTER. Brigadier-General of 
the IXth Brigade, N. Y. S.' M., Greeting: 
"We reposing especial trust and confidence, as well in 
your patriotism, conduct and loyalty, as in your integrity 
and readiness to do us good and faithful service, have 
appointed and constituted, and by these presents do 
appoint and constitute you, the said J. Watts de Peyster, 
of Tivoli, County of Duchess, S. N. Y., Brigadier- 
General of the 9th Brigade, Illd Division, New York 
State Military Forces, ADJUTANT-GENERAL OF 
THE STATE OF NEW YORK, with rank from 1st 
January, 1855. 

"You are, therefore, to observe and follow such orders 
and directions as you shall, from time to time, receive 
from our Commander-in-Chief of the Military Forces of 
our said State, in pursuance of the trust reposed in you, 
and for so doing tliis shall be your Commission. 

"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, We have caused our 
Seal for Military Commissions to be hereunto affiixed. 

"Witness, I^tYRON H. CLARK, Governor 
of our said State, Commander-in-Chief of 
the Military and Naval Forces of the same, 
at our City of Albany, the first day of Janu- 
"(L.S.) ary, one thousand eight hundred and fifty- 
five. Myron H. Clark. 
"Passed the Adjutant-General's Ofilce. 
"J. Watts de Peyster, 
"Adjutant-General." 



294 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

The document following was issued at the same time. 
"THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 
"TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL 
COME : 
"KNOW YE, That pursuant to the Constitution and 
Laws of our said State, We have appointed and consti- 
tuted and by these presents do appoint and constitute J. 
WATTS DE PEYSTER, Brigadier-General of the Ninth 
Brigade, Third Division, N. Y. S. M., ADJUTANT- 
GENERAL of the Militia of our said State, with rank 
from the first day of Januar}^ one thousand eight hun- 
dred and fifty-five, to hold the said office in the manner 
specified in and by our said Constitution and Laws. 

"IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF, We have 
caused our Seal for Military Commissions to 
be hereunto affixed. Witness, ]\IYRON 
H. CLARK, Governor of our said State, and 
Commander-in-Chief of the Military and 
Naval Forces of the same, at our City of 
Albany, the first day of January, in the year 
"(L.S.) of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
fifty-five. "Myron H. Clark." 

The anticipations which his appointment aroused in 
the minds of military men who took a genuine interest 
in the militia is well illustrated by a letter of congratu- 
lation to General de Peyster from Colonel Duryea, of 
the Seventh Regiment, dated 6 January, 1855. 

"It affords me much pleasure," he wrote, "to congratu- 
late you upon your appointment by the Executive of this 
State, our Adjutant-General. I feel fully satisfied from 
the interest you have always manifested for the Military 
Institutions of our countr}', that a new life and vigor will 
be breathed into this sadly neglected Department. May 
success attend all your efforts. 

"I am under obligation to you for a copy of the 
'Eclaireur,' and I perceive by this number that you have 
published two others which I would be pleased to possess, 
for they treat of a particular branch of military science 
in which I am much interested. 



ADJUTANT-GENERAL 295 

"I have contemplated writing to you for some length 
of time in relation to publishing a work for the Militia 
of the United States treating of street firing, and all 
manoeuvres incident to street fighting; such a work is 
much needed and I hope the suggestion will meet with 
your hearty approval/^ 

These expectations were doomed to but a partial 
realization. After remaining in office only a little more 
than two months. General de Peyster resigned a position 
which had become impossible to a man of his spirit and 
exalted sense of duty. He had accepted his appointment 
with eager enthusiasm, believing that it would give him 
an opportunity to correct abuses in the militia, and to 
carry into execution many of the reforms which he had 
advocated. He soon discovered that "the duties the 
Governor principally expected of him were to dance 
attendance at balls and parties." 

Moreover, he soon came into violent conflict with 
corrupt political forces at Albany. He insisted upon the 
practice of economy, and an honest administration under 
him, and took the high ground that appointments should 
be made for merit and for the good of the public 
service. Governor Clark took alarm from the threats of 
influential politicians. He feared that by a hearty and 
loyal support of his Adjutant-General he would make 
himself a target for attacks and injure his prospects. 

This painful situation came to a crisis over the reten- 
tion of Colonel Jonathan Tarbell as Assistant Adjutant- 
General, after improper conduct towards his superior. 
Colonel Tarbell was in close sympathy with the political 
influences which manifested hostility to General de 
Peyster's efficient administration of his office. The 
Assistant Adjutant-General's antagonism finally devel- 
oped into ungentlemanly conduct and insubordination. 
General de Peyster proposed to dismiss him summarily 
from office. He was earnestly solicited by Governor 
Clark to retain Colonel Tarbell, as the following letter 
witnesses. It will be noticed that the Governor prefers 
his request "as a personal favor" to himself. 



296 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEK 

"STATE OF NEW YOEK. 

"Head Quarters, N. Y. S. M., 
"Adjutant-General's Office. 
"Albany, 28th Feb'y, 1855. 
"My dear Gen'l : 

"I have consulted some of my particular friends, and 
have come to the conclusion to ask you, as a personal 
favor, to retain Col. Tarbell as Assistant Adjutant- 
General until the first of May. It will gratify me very 
much if you will do so. 

"Very truly yours, 
"Myron H. Clark. 
"Brigadier Gen'l J. Watts de Peyster, 
"Adj't-Gcn'l." 
It must be confessed that the Governor's attitude does 
not reflect credit upon himself or upon his administra- 
tion. General de Peyster had relieved Colonel Tarbell 
as Assistant Adjutant-General on 28 February, 
probably before the Governor's appeal reached him, and 
on 2 March following he confirmed his appointment of 
Lieutenant-Colonel James Mulford as Colonel Tarbell's 
successor. The General Orders to this effect are here 
given. 

"STATE OF NEW YORK, HEAD-QUARTERS, 
"Adjutant-General's Office, 
"Albany, March 2, 1855. 
"GENERAL ORDERS, 
"No. 12. 
"James Mulford, Lt.-Col. (22d Regiment) N. Y. S. 
M., having on the 28th February (in pursuance of section 
7, article 1, title 8, of the Militia Law of the State), 
been appointed Assistant Adjutant-General vice Jona- 
than Tarbell, he will be obeyed and respected accordingly. 
Bv order of the Commander-in-Chief. 
"J. WATTS DE PEYSTER, Adj't-Gen'l." 
On the same day, 2 March, 1855, the Governor 
evidently prevailed upon his Adjutant-General to 
reinstate Colonel Tarbell. The latter's misconduct the 
Governor refers to in a statement, over his own si^i^nature. 



ADJUTANT-GENERAL 297 

which he gave to General de Peyster at the time, 
which also states the grounds upon which General 
de Peyster finally agreed to re-appoint Tarbell to office. 
A copy of this document follows. 

"Albany, 2 March, 1855. 

"Col. Tarbell admitted in my presence that he had 
behaved in an ungentlemanly and unjustifiable manner 
towards General de Peyster; that he acknowledged that 
General de Peyster had, prior to such conduct, treated 
him with courtesy and kindness, even anticipating his 
wishes in granting unasked leaves of absence; and that 
he would resign in writing to General de Peyster, such 
resignation to take effect on the 1st May. 

"General de Peyster at the interview gave him dis- 
tinctly to understand that he yielded in re-appointing 
him solely from a desire to please his commanding officer, 
His Excellency, the Governor, and save him from the 
unauthorized and unmanly attacks made upon him, the 
Governor, by interested politicians. 

"Myron H. Clark." 

On the same day Governor Clark addressed the follow- 
ing letter to his Adjutant-General: 

"i^lbany, 2 March, 1855. 
"Brig. Gen. J. Watts de Peyster, 

"Adjutant-General, S. N. Y. 
"General : 

"At my solicitation, for the harmony of tlie Adminis- 
tration, you have re-appointed Jonathan Tarbell as 
Assistant Adjutant-General, from the 5th inst., to the 
1st of May, when he has pledged himself to resign. 

"Viewing the fact, the conduct he has evinced towards 
you a satisfactory reason for not wishing to remain in 
the office with one, retained for political reasons alone, 
you are hereafter relieved^, at your request, from all 
responsibilities of the duties of Adjutant-General, except 
of such as you see fit to discharge, and rest assured I 
will not permit your military credit or personal honor to 
suffer by thus yielding to oblige me contrary to your 
feelings. 



398 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

"You have always discharged the duties of the office 
to my satisfaction, and labored faithfully for the benefit 
of the service, and I deeply regret that circumstances, no 
fault of yours, have obliged me to make this request. 

"Eespectfully, 
"Myron H. Clark." 
This letter makes it clear that General de Peyster had 
refused to work in conjunction with Colonel Tarbell. The 
Governor weakly hoped to save the situation by relieving 
General de Peyster from active responsibility as 
Adjutant-General; but such a situation was intolerable 
to a gentleman of honor. Upon the following day, 
3 March, Governor Clark gave his Adjutant-General dis- 
cretionary powers in any case of riot throughout the 
State, as will be seen from the following: 

"State of Kew York, Executive Department. 

"Albany, March 3, 1855. 
"Brigadier-General J. Watts de Peyster, 

"Adjutant-General : 
"Sir : 

"Eelying on your discretion and experience, I hereby 
authorize you to issue such orders to the military, and 
take such measures in case of riot in any city of our 
State as will maintain the laws, protect life and property, 
and sustain order. 

''Myron H. Clark.'' 
On the same day, however, General de Peyster tendered 
his resignation as Adjutant-General. Copies of this, and 
of the Governor's acceptance of it, are given. 
"STATE OF NEW YORK, ADJ.-GENERAL'S 
OFFICE. 

"Albany, March 3d, 1855. 
"His Excellency, Myron H. Clark, Commander-in-Chief: 
"Sir: — I hereby resign the office of Adjutant-General 
of the State of New York, to take effect at such time 
as my successor shall be appointed and qualified. 

"J. WATTS DE PEYSTER." 
"The Commander-in-Chief hereby accepts the resigna- 
tion of Brig-Gen'l J. Watts de Peyster, as Adjutant- 



ADJUTANT-GENERAL 299 

General of the N. Y, S. M., and he will forthwith resume 
the command of the 9th Brigade, and General Orders, 
No. 339, bearing date Dec'r 30th, 185^, granting him 
leave of absence from such command to enable him to 
perform the duties of Adjutant-General and assigning 
the command of said Brigade to Col, W. P. Wainwright 
during the absence of Gen'l de Peyster, are hereby 
countermanded. 

"Mykon H. Clark." 

On the same date, 3 March, Governor Clark addressed 
a note to General de Peyster in which he said: "In 
accepting your resignation I feel that the course you 
have adopted reflects honor upon your character and I 
have no hesitation in adding you have won from me 
confidence in your soldierly reputation. In accordance 
with the understanding between us. Colonel J. Tarbell 
shall not be appointed your successor and I will make it 
a verbal stipulation with your successor that he shall not 
be appointed Assistant Adjutant-General." 

Still another letter from the Governor, of the same 
date, accepts the Adjutant-General's resignation with 
eloquent expressions of regret and many a flowery com- 
pliment. Evidently it was intended for public use. We 
give it here. 

"State of New York, 
"Executive Department, 
"Albany, March 3d, 1885. 
"Jly dear General: 

"Your resignation of the office of Adjutant-General has 
l)Gen received, and it was with great regret that I read 
the announcement of your determination to deprive me 
of your valuable services in that Department. 

"On ascertaining that I had been called upon by the 
People to fill the office of Governor, my mind naturally 
turned towards you as the man best fitted to be at the 
head of the Military of the State. The reputation which 
you had acquired by the very able Reports made to my 
predecessor since your return from Europe, and the great 
interest you had taken in the improvement of the Militia, 



300 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEK 

induced me to tender you the appointment. Your 
management of the affairs of the Department proved that 
I was right in the selection that I made. The records 
of the oflSce bear witness to the fidelity with which its 
duties have been discharged; and the many valuable 
reforms which you have suggested, furnish the evidences 
of your industry as well as the interest you have taken in 
our Military Organization, 

"Nothing but your earnest wish would induce me to 
accept your resignation, and thus sever our official connec- 
tion; and, believe me, that in your retirement you will 
carry with you the highest respect and esteem, both as an 
officer and as a man, of 

"Your friend, 
"And ob't serv't, 
"Myron H. Clark. 
"To Brigadier-General 

"J. Watts de Peyster, 
"Tivoli." 

The resignation was to take effect upon the appoint- 
ment and qualification for office of General de Peyster's 
successor. This occurred on 5 March, 1855, on which 
date General de Peyster resumed the active command of 
the Ninth Brigade, Eobert H. PrujTi succeeding him as 
Adjutant-General.* The following letter, from Colonel 
Abraham Van Vechten to General de Peyster, written 
6 March, 1855, the day after the latter's retirement from 
the Adjutant-General's office, is interesting and 
significant. 

"As the papers have informed you, Eobert H. Pruyn 
is Ad't Gen'l. He has not appointed any Assistant. 
You may rest assured that I shall do everything in my 
power to prevent the appointment of Tarbell. I do not 
think there is any danger to be apprehended. 

"The fact that you have certain papers in your 
possession with the signature of the Governor has been 



* General de Peyster was permitted to name his successor, and 
named Mr. Pruyn, at one time United States Minister to Japan, as 
"one whose astuteness in politics fitted him to grapple with the 
noxious elements which environed the Governor." 



ADJUTAXT-GENEEAL 301 

bruited about. The Governor himself lias mentioned it. 
Some of the outside 'l)usy-bodies' have said that I might 
have prevented that act. The proposition has been made 
to me to endeavor to get those papers. This I have 
declined, and have said that it was perfectly idle for me 
to attempt it. 

'Tn the strictest confidence, let me say to you that 
Pruyn does not want them to be given up — he wants that 
excuse for not appointing Tarbell. The truth is he 
wants to bestow the place upon a friend of his own. In 
order to strengthen him in not appointing T., he desires 
me to write you requesting you to consent to it. He 
says this will draw out from you a reply protesting 
against it, in which your reasons will" be strongly set 
forth, and he will be justified in acceding to your wishes. 

'^I have refused to be a party to this transaction, and 
shall not resort to it unless driven to it to defeat Tarbell. 
It you should receive such a letter from me you will 
understand it. 

"There is a good deal more connected with this matter 
which the limits of a letter will not permit me to explain. 
When we meet you shall know it all, and if your admis- 
sion behind the curtain which conceals the acts of 
politicians does not disgust you with them, I am much 
mistaken. 

"You will pardon me, my dear General, but for your 
own sake I am really glad that you are removed beyond 
the poisonous atmosphere which hangs about this capital. 
Before you again attempt to 'live and breathe' in it your 
whole nature must be changed. Learn to lie and deceive. 
Learn to do it without letting the blush of shame mantle 
your cheek with one drop of blood. Forget that you have 
such a thing as a conscience. Forget that there is any 
hereafter, or that you will ever be called to account for 
the 'deeds done in the body.' When you can greet friend 
and foe with the same smile, and forget what honor is — 
when you have unlearned and forgotten all this — then, 
and not till then, accept a political office. 

"But a truce, my dear General, to all this. I am true 



302 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

as steel to the friends I love, and among them all, none 
occupies a higher place in my estimation than 'you and 
yours'." 

In spite of the shortness of his term as Adjutant- 
General, General de Peyster succeeded in introducing 
many important improvements. "Among these," wrote 
the late General William P. Wainwright, "were the publi- 
cation of revised regulations for the government of State 
Troops; the reorganization and permanent settlement of 
the Adjutant-General's Department; the consociating, so 
to speak, of the regiments of one arm, by giving them 
(jne uniform; the introduction of appropriate artillery; 
and the preparation of every branch of the State service 
for emergencies. He also insisted upon the responsibility 
and accountability of those who presided over the collec- 
tion and disbursements of the military revenue; perhaps, 
after all, the most unpalatable of all his 'isms' — as his 
efforts at reform were sarcastically termed by those whose 
interest it was to defeat them, by the use of any means." 

While Adjutant-General, General de Peyster inaugu- 
rated the publication of the "Official Military Circular," 
of which Volume I, Number I, for January and Febru- 
ary, 1855 — sixteen pages — was issued during his adminis- 
tration. By General Orders Number 7, dated 13 January, 
and General Orders 8, dated 18 January, 1855, four 
military officers of the State had been ordered by 
Adjutant-General de Peyster to report at his office on 1 
Pebruary to form a Board, with the Adjutant-General as 
its President, to present to the commander-in-chief (the 
Governor) regulations desirable in order to carry into 
effect certain provisions of the military law of 17 April, 
1854. The report of this Board, recommending the 
puljlication of the Circular, was as follows: 

"STATE OF NEW YORK, 
"Adjutant-General's Office. 
"Albany, 6th February, 1855. 
"To His Excellency, Myron H. Clark, Governor, Com- 
2nnnder-in-Chief of the Military Forces of the 
State of New York: 



ADJUTANT-GEJ^ERAL 303 

^^e, the undersigned, constituting a Board for the 
consideration of Eules and Regulations, Forms and 
Precedents, convened at Albany in pursuance of General 
Orders JSTos. 7 and 8, do respectfally recommend that an 
Official Military Circular containing: 

"1st. All orders, general and special, of importance, 
emanating from head-quarters. 

"2d. All appointments, promotions, resignations and 
sentences of court-martial. 

"3d. Such correspondence of the Adjutant-General's 
department as may be of general interest. 

"■ith. Such military instruction and intelligence as 
tlie Commander-in-Chief may see fit to communicate for 
tlie improvement of the discipline of the state military 
forces 

be 

published monthly, bi-monthly 
or quarterly, by order of tlie Commander-in-Chief of the 
military forces of the State of 'New York, by the 

"Adjutant-General. 

"J. Watts de Peyster, Brigr. Gen'l. 9th Brigade, 
Adjutant-General, President of the Board. 

"W. S. Fullerton, Brigr. Genl. 27th Brigade. 

"H. B. Duryea, Brigr. Gen. 5th Brigade. 

"Z. T. Bentlev, Brigr. Genl. 19th Brigade. 

"R. B. Van Valkenlmrgli, Col. Comdg. GOth Regt. 
"Approved 6th February, 1855. 

"MYRON H. CLARK, 
"Governor, Commander-in-Chief of the Jlilitary 
"Forces of the State of 'New York.'' 

Adjutant-General de Peyster also compiled and pub- 
lished a complete digest of revised regulations for the 
government of the troops of the State, under the title, 
"Rules and Regulations Relative to the Adjutant-General, 
Ids Department, Duties, &c.," thirty-six pages. It is 
draM^n up in the technical form of a legislative act, 
divided into titles, articles, and sections, with foot-note 
references attached to each section giving the authority 
upon which its provisions are based. Tlie principal 



304 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

authorities referred to are the Act of Congress of 8 May, 
1T92; the Act of Congress of 18 April, 1814; General 
Regulations of the United States Army, edition of 1847 ; 
the Military Law of the State of New York of 17 April, 
1854; and various General Orders, promulgated by 
General de Peyster himself, as Adjutant-General. 

Adjutant-General Robert H. Pruyn, General de 
Peyster's successor in office, wrote the latter as follows: 

"I feel, my dear General, that with your military 
enthusiasm and knowledge, you are in many respects 
vastly more fitted for this office than I am. I fear I 
shall not accomplish as much. My experience has shown 
me that it is, if not dangerous, at all events, far from 
pleasant to undertake too many reforms. I should as 
soon think of partitioning a hornet's nest as of attempt- 
ing many things you would have had the boldness to 
execute." 

Brigadier-General Frederick Townsend, while holding 
the office of Adjutant-General, in 1857, wrote to General 
de Peyster in a similar strain. 

"Permit me, General," he says, in the course of his 
letter, "to avail myself of this opportunity to express to 
you regret, generally entertained among military men 
connected with the militia, that you did not longer 
remain at the head of the Adjutant-General's department, 
even though at a sacrifice of your own private feelings. 
Having traced up much that you did while in the depart- 
ment, and perceiving the direction of the work which 
you had laid out for yourself, I must individually bear 
testimony of the loss the service sustained on your 
resigning the commission of Adjutant-General." 

After his retirement as Adjutant-General, General de 
Peyster resumed for a time the active command of his 
Brigade. In the summer of 1856 he continued his work 
of investigation of military conditions, addressing 
himself to the situation in other States. The following 
from Governor Clark, granting him leave of absence for 
this purpose, comments approvingly upon his service to 
New York. 



ADJUTANT-GENEEAL 305 

'■'STATE OF NEW YOEK, 
"EXECUTIVE DEPAETMENT. 

"Albany, July 21, 1856. 

"Brigadier-General J. Watts de Peyster, Commandant 
of the jSTinth Brigade District, S. N. Y., having applied 
for leave of absence, to enable him to visit several of 
the adjacent States, we do hereby commend him to the 
favorable consideration of the civil and military authori- 
ties of the State throughout which he may travel, and 
earnestly desire that he may receive therefrom all proper 
aid in acquiring whatever information he may deem 
important in connection with the military organization, 
etc., thereof. 

"Sent out to Europe on a military mission, 1851-3, by 
our predecessor, Wasliington Hunt, General de Peyster 
brought back a very large amount of extremely valuable 
information which was embodied in two copious and 
elaborate reports, which speak for themselves with regard 
to his capability and energy. 

"For the last ten years General de Peyster has devoted 
a large amount of time, labor and means to promote the 
efficiency and improve the organization, etc., of the 
military forces of the State of New York, and he has 
proved himself one of the most useful and accomplished 
officers we have. 

"Immediately upon the confirmation of our election 
«s Governor of the State of New York, our mind turned 
upon him as the man best fitted to be at the head of 
the military system and force of our State, and as tlie 
Chief of ray Staff' (Adjutant-General) he discharged his 
duties with unsurpassed abilitv, fidelity and efficiency. 

"In testimony of our appreciation of General de 
Peyster, and our earnest recommendation of him to the 
good offices of the authorities of the States he may visit, 

"We have caused our Privy Seal to be hereunto affixed. 

' "MYEON H. CLAEK." 

In September, 1856, General de Peyster resigned the 
command of the Ninth Brigade. Governor Clark's 
acceptance of the resignation, dated 1 October, 1856, and 



306 JOHN" WATTS DE PEYSTER 

sealed with "the Great Seal of the State of Xew York," 
contains a summary of the retiring officer's services. 

"In pursuance of the power vested in him by Section 
36, Title 2, of the Militia Law of the State of New 
York," runs the document, "the Commander-in-Chief 
hereby accepts and authorizes the resignation of the Com- 
mand of his District by Brigadier-General J. Watts de 
Peyster, Commandant of the 9th Brigade of the Military 
Forces of the State of New York — such Resignation of 
command, but not of his commission, to take elfect on 
the 26th -December, 1856, who having faithfully dis- 
charged the duties of Colonel of the Militia and General 
of the Military Forces of our said State, in the most 
efficient and exemplary manner, is entitled to all the 
privileges and exemptions from Military duty conferred 
by the different Acts under which he has served. 

"In addition to the Military Privileges conferred by 
his service, he is hereby exempted from serving upon any 
(irand or Petit Jury within this State in pursuance of 
Section 75, Title 10, Chapter 10, Part I, Revised 
Statutes, Third Edition, whose provisions, previously eon- 
fined to the City and County of New York, were extended 
throughout the State l)y Section 13 of the Act, making 
further provision for tlie Organization of the Military, 
etc., etc., passed April 10th, 1849, under the first Section 
of which Colonel J. Watts de Peyster was assigned to the 
Command of the 22nd Regimental District on the 3rd of 
September, 1849, counting from which date his term 
of service expires on the 3rd of September, 1856, during 
which time he has discharged his duty with a laborious 
fidelity, unexceeded, if equalled by any other officer in 
the State service. 

"In accepting the resignation of his command by 
General de Peyster the Commander-in-Chief is happy to 
bear testimony to the important suggestions and 
improvements made by him, in Armament, Equipment 
and Discipline. 

"Previous to the adoption of the Mountain Howitzer 
on the Prairie Carriage for the use of the United States 



ADJUTAXT-GENEEAL 307 

Army, Colonel de Peyster suggested and delineated a 
carriage for a Mountain or a similar light Howitzer, 
almost identical with that subsequently approved by the 
U. S. Ordnance Officers. 

"He also had a Mountain Howitzer cast at his own 
expense in order, by practice therewitli, to demonstrate 
its value as an Arm for the Militia, which through his 
exertions led to its adoption by the Military Authorities 
of our State. 

"He also suggested and delineated a Siege Gun 
Carriage very similar to the pattern adopted by the 
Eussians for the Armament of their Seacoast defences, 
and somewhat upon the same principle with the admir- 
able light Howitzer Carriage, for which so much credit 
is due to Lieutenant John A. Dahlgren, now Commander 
U. S. Navy. 

"He was the first officer in this country to recommend 
the Tunic or Frock Coat and Light Cap as the Uniform 
of the IST. Y. Militia, afterwards adopted in every 
European Army, as well as that of the United States 
likewise. 

"The Bayonet Fence, New System (Bersaglieri Chas- 
seurs de Vincennes, Cacciatori Austriaci) of Eifle Tactics, 
subsequently introduced by the U. S. Military authorities, 
in accordance with the Tactics compiled and perfected 
by Brevet Lt.-Col. W. J. Hardee. 

"He was also instrumental in the j)assage of several 
wise provisions for the better government of the Military 
Forces of this our State, and the author of many 
important suggestions with regard to the simplification 
of Tactics, Military Policy, Armament, Eules and Eegu- 
lations, Methods of Designating Eank, &c., &c., some of 
which have been since adopted into the U. S. Cavalry 
Armament and strongly endorsed by Hon. Jefferson 
Davis, Secretary of War. 

"Sent out to Europe on a Military Mission by our 
predecessor, Washington Hunt, he fulfilled the duties 
assigned to him with laborious fidelity, and returned 
bringing with him samples of valuable and improved 

20 



308 JOHN" WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

Arms, Book?, ]\[aps, Plans and engravings, many of 
^\^llich he presented to, and are now in, the State Library 
and Arsenal, &c., besides a mass of valuable information 
embodied in two long and elaborate reports. 

"Selected by us to fill the post of Adjutant-General, 
he was untiring in his application to business and has 
left important mementoes of his determination, capacity 
and untiring energy and attention to the necessities and 
business of that Department, besides the preparation of 
a new Commission as beautiful as appropriate. 

"The Commander-in-Chief feels that this testimonial is 
due to General de Peyster and while he accedes to his 
relinquishment of his command, regrets a step prejudicial 
to the interests of the whole Service which continued ill 
health and other cogent reasons compel him to take." 

A little later, 13 November, 1856, the Governor 
authorized General de Peyster to wear his uniform on all 
occasions. A portion of the document bearing on this 
point follows: 

"As a testimonial of my satisfaction with him as an 
officer, and as an acknowledgment of his services, I do 
hereby authorize him henceforward to wear on all occa- 
sions the uniform worn by him on the 11th of November, 
1856, when I reviewed his Brigade, with such alterations 
for Undress, etc., as may have been already, or may be, 
determined and prescribed by himself." 

The officers of the Ninth Brigade expressed great 
regret in connection with General de Peyster's resigna- 
tion. In a letter, dated 11 November, 1856, in spite of 
his state of health, and the probability that he would be 
unable at times to take the field or assume command, 
they suggested that he remain at their head. 

"We,^the Company, Staff and Field Officers of the 9th 
Brigade, 3d Division, N. Y. S. M. F." they wrote, 
"hearing that you and Col. William P. Wainwright are 
about to resign your command of the 9th Brigade and 
22d Regiment, feel that the interests of the Service would 
suffer so much by such action on your part, that we 
earnestly request you to reconsider your determination, 



ADJUTANT-GENERAL 309 

and suggest that, if Col. Wainwright does not wish to 
remain at the head of a Regiment, lie might be willing 
to assume the Brigade-Major and Inspector's office, for 
which he is so eminently fitted as a Military Instructor. 
"Perfectly aware that the state of your health is such 
that you could not take the field in case of active service 
or assume the command on many occasions, when the Brig- 
ade might, but it is not at all likely to, be called out we 
would be perfectly willing to abide by your feelings on all 
occasions, considering, that you are the best judge as to 
when and where you do not consider yourself well enough 
to turn out; and knowing from past experience, that, 
sick or well, you have never neglected a duty, we would 
be content to have you remain at our head for the welfare 
of the whole." 



CHAPTEE XXIX 

BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL 

The subsequent period of about nine j^ears, from his 
resignation of the command of the Ninth Brigade to the 
end of the Civil War, was devoted by General de Peyster 
to the writing and publication of military and historical 
works. A separate section has been devoted to his 
literary work, and his activities during this period will 
be noticed there. At the close of the War of Secession 
a movement was inaugurated to secure official recognition, 
by the State of Xew York, of the important services which 
had been rendered to that State and to the Union by 
General de Peyster. The following letter was written to 
Governor Reuben E. Fenton by Major-General W. S. 
Posecrans, 5 January, 1866. 

"I am sure you will pardon the liberty I take in 
submitting to you whether it would not befit the honor 
of the State, that a gentleman, a citizen of the State, 
who has devoted so much time and spent his money so 
freely as has General J. Watts de Peyster to acquire real 
and accurate knowledge of Military science and art, and 
who keeps himself so well informed on those subjects, 
should receive from the Government of his State some 
recognition thereof. It seems to me it would have a 
beneficial efl^ect as an example of public appreciation, 
and would stimulate other gentlemen of education and 
leisure to devote their time to studies so useful and 
necessarj^, and yet so apt to be neglected. 

"Again, if you could have conferred on him a brevet 
or real rank of Major-General there may be public occa- 
sions when that might enable the State usefully' to avail 
itself of his services on boards and in organizing your 
Militia. 

"You will, I hope, pardon these suggestions, prompted 

310 




JOHN WATTS DE PBYSTER 
About 1860 



BEEVET MAJOR-GENERAL 311 

by the, to me, gratifying and rare occurrence of finding 
a gentleman of leisure who is so well learned in all that 
pertains to the art of war, and so truly an honor to the 
State." 

Endorsements of the letter of General Rosecrans were 
forwarded to the Governor from Major-General Daniel 
Butterfield, Chief of Staff to Generals Hooker and 
Meade, Commander of a division under Sherman, and 
Commander of the Army of the Potomac; from Major- 
General G. Iv. Warren, Chief Topographical Engineer 
of the Army of the Potomac, and afterward Commander 
of the Fifth Army Corps; from Brigadier-General T. W. 
Sweeney, Secretary of War; from Brevet ]\Iajor-General 
Charles K. Graham, the re-opener of the James River in 
]\Iay, 1864, and by various others who had been promi- 
nent as military commanders or in civil positions. 
Major-General Joseph Hooker wrote 13 January, 1866, 
as follows : 

"I cheerfully unite with Major-General Rosecrans in 
recommending General J. Watts de Peyster to the most 
favorable consideration of your Excellency. 

"Gen'l de Peyster was first introduced to me in May, 
1861, by his cousin, the late Gen'l Philip Kearny, and I 
know the high estimate set upon his military ability by 
that distinguished officer. I too can bear testimony to 
the accuracy of his judgment in military matters. 

"Believing that his studies and ideas, and his practical 
method of applying tliem, have been of great value to the 
State military organization, I take great pleasure in 
recommending him for a Brevet, as a reward for past 
services, or for a commission which will enable him to be 
of further service." 

John T. Hoffman, ]\rayor of N"ew York, wrote 
concurring with General Hooker. Three ex-Governors, 
Washington Hunt, Horatio Seymour, and John A. King, 
forwarded letters of recommendation. "General de 
Peyster rendered important military service to the State 
during my administration," wrote Washington Hunt. 
"He is fully worthy of the favor and recognition recom- 



313 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

mended by General Eosecrans." "The report made by 
General de Peyster, with regard to military science and 
organization, was a valuable work," said ex-Governor 
Seymour. "It treated of subjects but little understood 
and cared for at that time. Late events have shown 
their value. I should be happy to learn that some 
suitable mark of public appreciation is made by the 
Governor or Legislature." 

The letter of Brevet Major-General S. W. Crawford, 
who participated in thirty battles during the war, was 
as follows: "While so many persons in various sections 
of the country have been and are receiving from the 
General or State Governments a recognition of their 
services, civil or military, I would respectfully call the 
attention of your Excellency to the case of Brigadier- 
General J. Watts de Peyster, N. Y. S. M. I would urge 
upon your Excellency that this officer be promoted to 
the rank of Major-General, either in full or by brevet. 

"The exceedingly valuable contributions to the Militia 
organization of the State, as well as the activity and zeal 
at all times shown ])y General de Peyster in promoting 
the efficiency and elevating the standard of the citizen 
soldier, as well as also in inducing and maintaining 
among a large influential class an active interest in 
military subjects, should be met by a suitable reward 
from his State. There is no one more deserving, no one 
more devotedly patriotic, no one who has done so much, 
and I would respectfully recommend to your Excellency 
the immediate promotion of this officer as eminently due 
him. State military affairs have become of the highest 
importance, and it is but just that this prominent citizen 
of New York should be placed by rank in a position 
where, when his services may be necessary, they may be 
most efficiently and justly rendered." 

We also quote from the letter of George W. Matsell, 
ex-Chief of the New York Police, under whom the City, 
afterward known as the Metropolitan Police, was organ- 
ized and rendered effective. "I have been acquainted 
with General de Peyster for many years," he wrote. 



BREVET MAJOR-GENEEAL 313 

''AVhile I was Chief of Police he was always busy doing 
all he could to assist in a thorough organization of the 
protective forces, especially in regard to systems in con- 
nection with the Fire Department and Fire Escapes. 
The result of one of his Reports and experiments, in 
connection, a beautiful Fire Escape, he had constructed 
at his own expense and presented to the Police Head- 
quarters. It was tested by me, and approved. His views 
were always practical and useful." 

The letters of the two Wainwrights, who had served 
as militia officers under General de Peyster, and after- 
wards distinguished themselves in the service of the 
Union, are of especial interest. Brevet Brigadier- 
General C. S. Wainwright wrote, in part, as follows: 

"During the seven years — from 1849 to 1856 — I was 
intimately connected with General de Peyster in the 
Militia, and know that he gave almost his whole time 
during that period, and expended several thousand 
dollars of his own property, in his endeavors to improve 
and place upon a proper footing the Militia of our own 
district (Duchess and Columbia Counties), as also of the 
whole State. As an organizer, I have met with but few 
men who are General de Peyster's equal. 

"His extended reading and laborious research on 
military subjects have enabled him to accumulate an 
amount of information such as I have seldom found in 
an extended acquaintance among the highest military 
men of our country. While his thorough acquaintance 
with the National Guard organizations of Europe, 
acquired during a visit to those countries for the express 
purpose of examining into those systems, fits him, perhaps 
better than any other man in the State, to advise and 
superintend the placing of our own National Guard on 
such a basis as will make it really efficient and an honor 
to the State." 

The letter of Colonel William P. Wainwright was 
addressed to General de Peyster. "Understanding that 
your friends propose making application for some 
acknowledgment of your services in forming our soldiers 



314 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTEE 

for the late war," he writes, "I am desirous of making 
what little effort I can toward procuring you so well 
deserved an honor, and therefore forward this for such 
use as your friends may think fit to make of it. 

"No one knows better, or perliaps so well as I, what 
you have attempted and what you have done for the 
Militia. Your report on the Militia Systems of Europe 
will long be a mine of information for those who endeavor 
to really benefit our own. These reports were grounded 
on observations and inquiries made in Europe during a 
tour, which, although undertaken by the authority of the 
Governor of New York, was conducted at your own 
expense, and which was apparently devoted almost solely 
to obtaining material for them. 

"For several years you edited and supported a periodi- 
cal devoted entirely to military svibjects, and distributed 
it gratis, with the sole object of improving the Militia. 
There was no one perhaps better qualified to judge of 
the merit of your labors than our lamented friend. 
General Philip Kearny. I know that he esteemed them 
liighly. I remember his sending an orderly several miles 
to me in order to borrow a copy of the Eclaireur, for the 
purpose, as he wrote, of consulting one of your articles. 

"Your labors in your own Militia command (a Brigade 
in Duchess and Columbia Counties) were for years 
incessant. In connection with it, you maintained and 
horsed a section of artillery, the practice of which, both 
in manauivring and firing, was more real than any I liad 
seen out of the Pegular Army, before the war actually 
began. At the same time, your drills of all kinds were 
devoid of fatigue for show, but gave the men a true, even 
if unpleasant, idea of what was necessary to prepare them 
for the field. Many who then complained would prob- 
ably now acknowledge that yours was the way to form 
soldiers. 

"To the above claims for some token of appreciation 
may be added your little pamphlet on 'AYinter Cam- 
paigns,' which, when viewed in the light of what has 
been done since its publication, might well have been, 



BREVET MAJOR-GENEEAL 315 

if it was not, among the influences which brought about 
a more determined conduct of the war. 

"I have always regretted that your health prevented 
your beginning at those lower commissions which were 
the only stepping stones for your obtaining a position 
in which you might have been of service in the field." 

Colonel W. C. Church wrote to Governor Fenton from 
the office of the United States Army and aSTavy Journal. 
"I have read letters from Generals Eosecrans, Hooker 
and Warren commending to your notice the service Gen- 
eral J. Watts de Peyster has rendered in diffusing correct 
military information," he said, '^and I take great pleasure 
in endorsing what they say in that regard. General de 
Peyster has contributed many articles to this journal 
during the past two years, and I know they have been 
esteemed of great value for the correct military principles 
they have presented. He is a gentleman whose informa- 
tion on military subjects is remarkably accurate, as well 
as extensive, and whose zeal in the pursuit of military 
studies has been active and constant. I do not need to 
refer yoii to the service General de Peyster has done the 
State, in the official jjosition of Adjutant-General, as well 
as by his published reports and other works. With this 
you are undoubtedly familiar, and are aware of the 
evidence it affords of careful study and thorough appre- 
ciation of the subjects relating to our military 
establishment." 

"I have known General de Peyster for over sixteen 
years," wrote Captain W. AY. Tompkins. '^"I first taught 
him artillery tactics and always considered him one of 
my best pupils. Previously he had given his attention 
solely to infantry. No officer in the Militia was superior 
to him in military knowledge. He wrote a great deal 
for my paper — the United Service Journal — in 1850. 
Since then I have known the efforts he made for the 
improvement of the organization of our State troops, 
and how much New York owes to him. As one of the 
most experienced instructors of military exercises in the 
country, I feel satisfied that General de Peyster will do 



31G JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

credit and justice to a Major-General's commission, and 
a Division command, or any office connected with military 
oi'ganization or government." 

The letter of Captain Frederic Lahrbush to Governor 
Fenton, of peculiar interest because of the advanced age 
of the writer, bears tril)ute to the critical knowledge of 
campaigns, in which the writer had participated, possessed 
by General de Peyster. "On the 9th of March I will be 
one hundred years old," he begins. "Seventy-three years 
ago I was a soldier in active service in Holland. The 
Duke of Wellington was a Major in the same army. I 
afterwards served under him when he was Commander- 
in-Chief in Spain. I won his honorary mention for 
Busaco, and won a medal or cross for Talavara, inscribed 
also for Vimicra and Busaco. I served likewise under 
the able Lord Cornwallis in Ireland. I have drank 
healths with Blucher, and also knew many Russian, Prus- 
sian and French military celebrities. I was at Jena 
with the Prussian Court, where Napoleon won his greatest 
tactical victory. I stood on the shore and saw Napoleon at 
the height of his i^ower and glory on the Raft, in the 
Niemen, when he dictated laws to Europe ; and I guarded 
him in the depth of his abasement on the Island of St. 
Helena, in the Atlantic, when Europe made laws for his 
hourly government, as their captive. 

"My memory is perfect, and the details of military 
history in which I was an actor are as familiar to me 
as those of the past few years. 

"I have known General de Peyster for several years. 
We have critically discussed the campaigns in which I 
was present, and I have often remarked to others that 
he was as intimately acquainted with those campaigns, 
their battles and the movements of the opposite armies, 
and the cause of their successes and defeats, as if he 
had been present in the engagement we were discussing. 

"As an officer of the highest theoretical strategical 
ability, I would consider him lit for any position demand- 
ing research and the application of the great rules and 
principles of war." 



BEEVET MAJOR-GENERAL 317 

We also give tv,'o letters written at the time by General 
de Peyster to Captain Bullard, subsequently Major. In 
the first he says : "As you are aware, some of my friends 
have suggested that there should be some recognition of 
my military labors by the State; after urging, by their 
advice I have collected the necessary papers to establish 
the facts. The continued ill-health of a near relative 
precludes any chance of my leaving the city, and, there- 
fore, I am compelled to jeave the matter to you and 
accept your kind offer of attending to it. 

"I hand you herewith a collection of letters, for each 
one of which, I think, I could furnish a score of equal 
value if I had time to have them copied. That my labors 
are not better known or more apparent to the public 
arises from the fact that they were almost entirely office- 
work, or experiments not open to the public. A large 
portion of my work was done abroad, and I am willing 
to base my claim upon my printed works, especially my 
Reports and military biographies. Medals from the King 
of Sweden, a long, critical pamphlet and notice in 
Holland, my election as member of one of the first 
scientific societies of Europe, and numerous letters, speak 
sufficiently for themselves in my favor. 

"Lieutenant-General Gust, one of the best military 
historians living, pays the highest compliment to my 
work on the Tliirty Years' War. I have furnished more 
contrilmtions to the military papers published in New . 
York than any other person that I know of, and, as yet, 
my positions have never been assailed with success. In 
arms, armament, uniforms, etc., I was years ahead of 
the time, and I have lived to see almost every suggestion 
I made carried into effect. The last adoption, whose 
suggestion I made, was a paid Fire Department with 
steam fire-engines. Sickness prevented my forcing the 
Government to give me a position in the field, during 
the past war, but I begged for any position which my 
health would permit me to fill. This I can prove, if 
necessary. 

"Perhaps it might be well to state that for over twenty 



318 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

3'ears my health has heen such as to render the utmost 
care necessary, and it is only within the past six months 
that I have been able to use the stimulants necessary to 
enable me to work — not when I wish, but at appropriate 
times. 

"The officer who knew me best and was cognizant of 
my labors was my cousin, ^lajor-General Kearny. Were 
he alive it would be scarcely necessary to do more than 
to refer to him. 

"In Europe, the officer ivith whom I came most in 
contact and who afforded me the greatest facilities was 
Lieutenant-General La Mojmora, who perished in the 
Crimea. 

"There are many officers in this State, who estimated 
my work, to whom I would refer were additional proof 
necessary. There are others again, with sounding titles, 
who never did anything themselves, and never could 
apju'eciate anything iiseful which others diu 

"To my printed works, to my communic 'tions to the 
papers, to my Eeports, to my letters, I worhd refer His 
Excellency, the Governor, and if I could expect anyone 
to examine so many publications, my best witness would 
be the results. 

"The execution done by the Napoleon guns upon the 
Eebels is one of the loudest and best Avitnesses I have had, 
for I am not aware that anyone in this country translated 
the work upon tliese guns or printed it before I did. 

"This information, as well as much more, was printed 
and distributed at my own expense. 

"My only offence, if such be an offence, was being in 
advance of the time, and I experienced the same fate as 
many abler men in Europe to whom the military institu- 
tions and organizations which now rule and flourish can 
be traced. 

"My sole desire was to build up efficient systems, not 
popular ones. Efficiency and popularity seldom go 
together, and our people have scarcely learned from this 
war the vast significance of 7mist, and the force of disci- 
pline and economy. Had my views been carried out, in 




JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 
In 1863 



BEEVET MAJOR-GENEEAL 319 

this and adjacent States, we could have, thrown one 
hundred men for one into the field — not raw, but par- 
tiall}^ prepared for their duty, and, comparatively 
speaking, organized." 

General de Peyster's second letter to Major Bullard 
is dated 23 January, 1866. 

"It may be asked invidiously," he writes, "if I have 
such military talents as represented by my friends; in 
fact, it justly may be asked why I did not at once take 
part in the momentous struggle in arms just closed. 

"In the first place, I was in a tery bad state of health 
when the war commenced, with daily hemorrhages, which 
often demanded all I could eat in a day to supply the 
blood I lost in a day. This grew worse until it culmi- 
nated in the winter of 1862-63. It was onl}^ in the 
spring of 1865 that I became definitely better. 

"Nevertheless, against the advice of family physicians, 
I was willing to go, as Brigadier-General, if the country 
desired my services. James II. Woods, Esq., will bear 
testimony to my exertions immediately after the fall of 
Fort Sumter. His Excellency, Governor Morgan, knows 
I ofiiered to take any position under him where I could 
be of any service. My offers of services were refused. 
These ofiiers I repeated again and again, from time to 
time, with like results. 

"About the first of June, 1861, I went on to Washing- 
ton and offered to furnish a Brigade of tln'ee picked 
Regiments, if I would be received as their Brigadier- 
General, etc. I also offered my personal services for 
staff duty. President Lincoln refused all my offers 
summarily. 

"I made all these offers contrary to the advice of 
family physicians, who assured me I could not stand the 
fatigue and exposures of active service. Disgusted with 
my reception at Washington I remained home during the 
summer of 1861, but at all times held myself ready to 
enter the service with any rank. 

"Governor Morgan and Senator Harris both offered 
me the command of Regiments, but even if I had been 



320 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

willing to waive rank, I was compelled to refuse a 
Colonelcy because I had not the physical powers and 
endurance requisite for that office. Senator Harris 
offered me a Cavalry Eegiment. This I knew it would 
be folly for me to accept. My cousin, Major-General 
Kearny's opinions were sufficient to determine me, since 
a Cavalry Colonel, besides harder duty as a mere Colonel, 
lias a double charge, one as regards his men, another as 
regards their horses. For such a labor I was totally 
unfit from physical disability and life-long dislike to 
tliat service. I miglit have taken a Colonelcy of Artil- 
lery, but no such regiment had been raised. For Artillery 
service I was peculiarly fitted. As it was, every avenue 
to distinction was closed to me by refusal to concede to 
me that rank to which I was entitled by my reputation 
and experience. 

"In the fall of 1861 I was urged to another exertion, 
and proceeded to Washington again, to ask a Brigadier- 
General's commission, to be dependent on my raising two 
regiments of Artillery. Fortunately, this time I was 
accompanied by a dear friend, who has furnished me 
with the requisite proof to substantiate my earnest exer- 
tions to get into the service if I was wanted. 

"Copies of letters and corroborations are attached 
liereto. 

"Few men, situated as I was, would have offered their 
services in a military capacity — when I felt that a com- 
mission, with command in the field, was al^out equivalent 
to a permit to enter the hospital. As I could scarcely 
carry my body, I was certainly unable to carry on the 
duties appertaining to the command of a Brigade in the 
field. Still, there are many Brigadier-General's com- 
mands, in Bureau Service and garrison, which I could 
have performed with credit to myself and benefit to my 
country. The Government would not see it, and I had 
no power to compel them to open their eyes. 

"But whether I obtained a command or no in the War, 
I had worked hard enough for twelve years to be entitled 
to the commission I asked. My suggestions for Militia 



BREVET MAJOE-GENEEAL 331 

and Eire organizations are on record; likewise tlie testi- 
mony of the Adjutant-General's office; to them and the 
Adjutant-Generals, in succession, with whom I came in 
contact officiall}^, to the Governors under whom I served, 
to my writing in three successive military papers, to 
foreign and native officers of distinction with whom I 
associated, to my publications and reports, I have no 
fear of appealing as witnesses in my behalf. 

"If lavish expenditure of time, ability (of whatever 
degree I am possessed), of money and influence — the 
valid j)roofs of any man's earnestness and energy — for 
the development of everything useful in any branch of 
the public service, and twelve years' faitliful service, 
entitles one to recognition by his native State, I can 
produce the proofs. 

"Any assertion of my own in this connection is useless. 
Hundreds of letters and thousands of pages of printed 
work will say more for me, a hundred times more, than 
1 would dare to say, were it modest or proper for me 
to speak in my own behalf. 

"You, Major BuUard, are a competent witness. You 
know my labors. You know the estimation in which I, 
myself, and what I have written, are held by persons of 
the highest distinction. At the suggestion of officers of 
elevated rank, and at your request, I commit my case 
and documentary evidence to your hands. I should con- 
sider the conferring of a Brevet Major-General's Com- 
mission as the highest honor and reward I could receive 
from my native State, the possession of which is and 
would be the object of my greatest ambition and hope." 
The outcome of these appeals is revealed in the 
following documents. 

"COI^CUEEENT EESOLUTION 
"New York State Legislature, 

being Special Act authorizing the issue of 
"Commission of Brevet Major-General to 
Brigadier-General de Peyster. 
"Resolved (if the Senate concur) tliat, it being a 
grateful duty to acknowledge, in a suital)1e manner, the 



322 JOHN WATTS DE PEYSTER 

services of a distinguislied citizen of tliis State, rendered 
to the National Guard, and to the United States, prior 
to and during the Rebellion, the Governor be, and he is, 
hereby authorized and requested to confer upon Brigadier- 
General J. Watts de Peyster the brevet rank of Major- 
General in the National Guard of New York, for 
meritorious services, which mark of honor shall be stated 
in the Commission conferred. 

"State of New York, in "State of New York, in 

Senate, April 20, 1866. Assembly, April 9. 

Tlie foregoing resolution 1866. The foregoing 

was duly passed. By resolution was duly 

order of the Senate. passed. By order of 

James Terwilliger, Clerk." the Assembly. J. B. 

Cushman, Clerk." 
"GENERAL HEAD QUARTERS, 

"STATE OF NEW YORK, 
"ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE. 

"Albany, Dec'r 1, 1866. 
"This is to certify that the name of Gen. J, Watts de 
Peyster is registered upon the books of this department 
as per Concurrent resolution of the Legislature of this 
State, under date April 9th, 1866 : 

"Brevet Major-General in the National Guard S. N. Y. 

"C. W. Bentley, 
"Lt-Col & Act A A C " 
"THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 
"By the Grace of God Free and Independent. 

"National Guard, S. N. Y. 
"To J. WATTS DE PEYSTER, Greeting: 
"By virtue of the authority conferred upon us by 
Special Act or Concurrent Resolution of the Legislature 
of the State of Ne\^ York, passed April 20th, 1866, and 
reposing especial trust and confidence, as well in your 
patriotism, conduct and loyalty, as in your integrity and 
readiness to do as good and faithful service, we have 
appointed and constituted, and by these presents do 
appoint and constitute you, the said Brigadier-General 
J. Watts de Peyster, MAJOR-GENERAL by BREVET, 



BREVET MAJOE-GEXERAL 323 

in The National Guard of the State of New York, for 
'meritorious services rendered to the National Guard and 
to the United States, prior to and during the Rebellion/ 
with rank from April 20th, 1862. 

"You are, therefore, to observe and follow such orders 
and directions as you shall, from time to time, receive 
from our Commander-in-Chief of the Military Forces of 
our said State, or any other )^our Superior Officer, accord- 
ing to the rules and discipline of War, and hold the said 
office in the manner specified in and by the Constitution 
and Laws of our said State, in pursuance of the trust 
reposed in you, and for so doing this shall be your 
Commission. 

"IN WITNESS WHEREOF, we have caused our seal 
for Military Commissions to be hereunto affixed. 

"Witness, 
"(Seal) 

"Rueben E. Fenton, Governor of our State, 
Commander-in-Chief of the ]\Iilitary and 
Naval Forces of the same, at our City of 
Albany, this twenty-fifth day of October, 
one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
seven. R. E. Fenton. 
"G. E. Marvin, 

"Adjutant-General." 
The military rank thus conferred upon General de 
Peyster by concurrent act of both branches of the Legis- 
lature is a unique distinction. Neither New York, nor 
any other State in the Union, had ever before bestowed 
such an honor upon one of its citizens, and we are not 
aware that the act has been duplicated since by any 
Legislature. 



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